


Broken Space

by SpoonusBoius



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Crippled Mari, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Mari (OMORI) Lives, Supernatural Elements, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29971407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpoonusBoius/pseuds/SpoonusBoius
Summary: Sunny grabbed Mari's hand just as she started to tumble down the stairs - and down he went, tumbling right alongside her.
Relationships: Aubrey & Basil & Hero & Kel & Sunny (OMORI), Aubrey/Sunny (OMORI), Hero/Mari (OMORI)
Comments: 136
Kudos: 289





	1. I'm Sorry

The first thing Sunny remembered was his anger. Mari was yelling at him. He had broken his violin. He regretted doing it, but he had a reason. He couldn't take it anymore. Mari wanted everything to be perfect, but he wasn't like her. For him, it was already enough. He just wanted to spend time with his sister. Why couldn't she see that? He did it all for her.

The second thing Sunny remembered was his pain. His fingers swollen and trembling from all the practice. His joints overworked and aching. His hands hurt so much that he could barely make a fist, much less perform the delicate movements needed to play the violin. Why didn't she understand? He was in so much pain, and Mari just kept pushing him. He just wanted to take a break, that's all.

The third thing Sunny remembered was trying to get away. He hated seeing his sister upset, but he hated even more her being upset at him. She didn't even try to understand. Maybe if they just took a break, everything would go back to normal. Sunny tried to run down the stairs, but Mari blocked his path. "I'm not done talking to you yet, Sunny."

He tried to get around her, but she grabbed his arms, stopping him. "Sunny, stop trying to run away!" 

Sunny screamed something, but he didn't understand what it was. He grabbed her arms and shoved her off of him. Then, time seemed to slow down. Mari's face of confusion as she lost her balance and teetered her way off the stairwell's landing was all Sunny could see. His gaze shifted to Mari's still outstretched arm. The desperation in her sprawled out fingers obvious. Sunny knew what was about to happen. He knew _all_ of what was about to happen.

_Do you want to save her?_

Sunny dove for her hand, trying to pull her back up; Instead, he went right down with her, tumbling down the stairs. The world tossed and turned around him as he and his sister fell, the vivid colors of his house being turned into a blur. Sunny closed his eyes. He heard a crack, but didn't feel anything.

The last thing Sunny remembered was blacking out.

* * *

_One week later._

When Sunny opened his eyes, all he saw at first were the fluorescent lights. Then his eyes drifted around to the other people in the room. His mother, Aubrey, Kel, Hero, and Mari sat in the room talking to each other. They all seemed a bit deflated, and they had solemn looks on their faces. They were talking about something, too, but Sunny couldn't figure out what. Were they talking about him?

Kel looked over and saw that Sunny's eyes were awake. Pointing, he shouted, "Guys, look! He's finally awake!"

Hero reached the boy first, stopping Aubrey and Kel from jumping on the now conscious but bedridden Sunny. What did Kel mean by, "finally?" Had he really been out for a long time? How long had it been? A day? A week? Months?

Before everyone stood up, Sunny hadn't realized that Mari was sitting in a wheelchair. Why would she be sitting in a wheelchair?

Then he remembered everything that happened. Did he do this to her? Guilt sunk his stomach like a lead weight. He was angry, but if he hadn't grabbed her hand, then...

"We talked about this, guys," Mari said, and everyone stopped in their tracks. "I need a moment alone with him. Just a few minutes, okay?"

Everyone sighed in disappointment, and Sunny's mother kissed him on the cheek. Everyone but Mari then left the room, leaving the siblings all alone. Mari wheeled her way to Sunny's side, but Sunny was scared. Was she angry? Was she going to yell at him again? Mari raised her hand, and Sunny flinched. He was surprised when instead of hitting him, she grabbed his hand.

"I'm sorry, Sunny," she said. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have yelled. I-" Her voice broke, and Sunny looked over to see tears dripping out of his sister's eyes.

He was confused. Why was _she_ apologizing? He pushed her down the stairs. Shouldn't she be angry? She was hurt, he broke his violin, and they were yelling at each other. "Why aren't you angry?" Sunny asked, confused.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes. "I pushed you too hard. If I hadn't been so demanding, none of this would have happened. I should have understood. I should have paid more attention. The doctor said your fingers had popped blisters on them..." She squeezed his hand tighter and looked at him with an intense look in her eye, tears still dripping down her face. "Never again, Sunny. I will _never_ treat you like that ever again. If you don't want to play the violin anymore, I understand."

Sunny just stared at her, awestruck and unsure of what to say. She looked like a huge burden had been taken off of her shoulders, like the weight of the universe was finally resting on a pedestal instead of on her back. She still looked pained, though, as if there was more she was waiting to say and hear. Mari smiled warmly and reached up to touch her younger brother's face. "They said I might have died if you hadn't caught me. My lower back was broken on the higher steps, so I couldn't have stopped myself from falling. I know you pushed me, and that must be eating you up inside, but I forgive you. I know you didn't want to hurt me."

Sunny felt tears well in his eyes. "Mari..." He started sobbing, mumbling, "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry..." over and over again. All he wanted was for Mari to stand up and hug him like she used to when they were younger. All he had ever wanted was to spend more time with her. He was so lonely without her, and he knew she was going to be leaving for good soon. When he got the violin, he was so happy, but it caused _this_.

Mari smiled and rubbed her brother's head. "I know it might take a while, but I hope you can forgive me." She paused for a moment, then continued, "I want you to forgive yourself, too, Sunny. It wasn't your fault. It was mine."

She really _did_ blame herself for what happened. Sunny hated himself for that. How could it have been her fault? He was the one who pushed her.

"There's one more thing that we need to talk about though, Sunny," Mari said. "Basil told the others that I fell on accident and you tried to catch me, but you fell down too. We both know that's not what happened, but..." Her glance shifted to the door. "Do you _want_ to tell them what really happened?"

His mind flashed back to the moment where he grabbed her hand at the stairwell. _Something_ had spoken to him at that moment, but he didn't know what. Something told him to grab his sister's hand to stop her from falling. He somehow knew exactly what would have happened if she had fallen on her own. Images had flashed in his mind: A noose, Basil's terrified expression, himself with only one eye.

**Omori.**

" _Do you want to save her?_ " it had asked, as if knowing from experience what would have happened if he hadn't.

A new set of images flashed in his mind. Aubrey leading a gang. Hero crying alone in the piano room. Kel sobbing as his brother screamed at him.

**Omori.**

Again, time slowed down. He saw Mari's genuine, loving features and all he could think about was how he still had his sister. Anything he could do to protect her, to make sure she was still around tomorrow, he would do. He heard the voice again.

_Do you want to lie?_

"What do you think, Mari?" he asked, deferring to his sister's opinion. He didn't know whether or not he should. Sunny was scared of how his friends would react, but if Mari was there to tell them it was okay, then it would all turn out fine.

"I don't think we should..." Mari sighed. "I don't think we should tell our parents. I think Mom would understand, but she can't keep a secret, and Dad... Well, you know how he is. I think we should at least tell our friends, though. They all deserve to know."

Sunny didn't respond, only nodding in agreement. Mari tilted her head slightly and smiled at him again. "Sunny, it'll be okay. I'll tell everyone what happened, and that it was just an accident. Don't worry too much, okay? You need to focus on getting better."

Sunny nodded again, and Mari wheeled over to the door and opened it up for their friends. Kel and Aubrey quickly ran in, trying to make sure their friend was okay. "You're not fair, Mari!" Aubrey said, pouting. "We wanted to talk to Sunny too."

Mari laughed, then rolled back to Sunny's bedside. "You'll have plenty of time to talk to him. You guys are in the same grade, after all. I have to go to college in a couple years, and Sunny is going to miss me the most," she countered, sticking her tongue out at Hero.

"Hey, I've got a brother who'll miss me more, I'm just saying," Hero retorted, ruffling Kel's hair, much to his younger brother's annoyance. He then turned his attention to Sunny. "How are you feeling? You've been out for almost a week. The doctor said you had a concussion, and you had that cut on your back, so we were all worried."

Sunny raised both thumbs in reply, smiling weakly. That was one question answered, after all. At least he was only unconscious for a few days. Sunny didn't actually feel very well, but he was more than well enough to handle everyone in the room at once. He missed his friends, even though to him it barely seemed like any time passed at all. Hero breathed a sigh of relief.

Sunny's mother nudged through the gathered children to examine her son. "I was so worried, sweetheart. Once your father hears you're alright, I'm sure he'll be thrilled."

Mari and Sunny exchanged a quick glance, but said nothing. Suddenly, Kel pointed out the clock. "Woah! It's almost eight! Mom would never let us stay out this late before, right Hero?"

Everyone's eyes shifted to the clock, and Sunny's mom yelped. "Crap! I told your mother I would have you guys back by now!" She quickly kissed Sunny and Mari on the cheek before taking the other kids away. "Goodnight, you two! Mari, make sure to get back to your room before ten so the the nurse can help you get into bed."

"I know, mom," Mari replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm gonna stay in here for a bit longer to keep Sunny company, though. You guys have a safe trip back home."

"Thank you sweetie," her mom said, turning and expecting the kids to follow. Mari then blew a kiss to Hero, Kel, and Aubrey before they turned and walked out the door.

"Bye Sunny! See you tomorrow!" Kel said, waving.

"Take care, Sunny," Hero advised. "You too, Mari. Don't stay up too late."

"We'll play a lot once you get better, okay Sunny?" Aubrey suggested. "We can play by ourselves too, if you want."

Then they all left.

"Sunny..." Mari said, breaking the silence. "You know how I said earlier that my lower back broke?"

Sunny nodded. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but the fact that she brought it up dramatically increased his anxiety.

"I won't be able to walk again," she said, scratching her eyebrow idly and laughing as her facial features morphed into discomfort. "Probably for the rest of my life."


	2. Headspace...?

"You're late."

Sunny found himself in a white void, seemingly endless in every direction. A blanket was sprawled out on the floor beneath him, and a laptop, sketchbook, box of tissues, and a black cat were sprawled across the blanket. A lightbulb dangled from the ceiling, but Sunny couldn't tell where it was actually dangling from. In front of him, a boy who looked exactly like himself was sitting on the floor. Sunny felt his heart beat faster, and his breaths begin to quicken. Where was he?

"Calm down, Sunny. I'm not going to hurt you," the boy said, his lifeless, dull expression not changing. "My name is **Omori**. You were supposed to show up here about a month ago, but you never did. Did something hold you up?"

Sunny had no idea what " **Omori** " was talking about. He was scared. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see his friends. The boy's voice sounded dead, even though his words were expressing curiosity. Something about him terrified Sunny, as if this _thing_ was antithetical to Sunny's very existence. How was he supposed to calm down?

"Actually," **Omori** said, "I haven't been feeling very well. What did you do, Sunny?"

_It's not as scary as you think._

_Leave this place behind, Sunny. You don't need it._

**Omori** stood up and walked towards Sunny, holding out his hand. "I can help you, Sunny," he said, his emotionless voice even scarier the closer he moved to Sunny. Nothing about this felt right. Sunny felt like he was going to throw up. "Just take my hand."

"NO!" Sunny screamed, smacking the boy's hand away. **Omori** was disgusting. Wrong. Cruel. Invasive. Deceitful. _Guilty._

"You weren't supposed to do that..." **Omori** muttered, looking at his hand. "What did you do, Sunny?"

"Get away from me!" Sunny shrieked, fear rippling through his entire body. Goosebumps rose on his skin. Sunny was afraid. He wanted to see Mari. This was all a dream. As soon as he woke up, Mari would tell him it was all okay.

_You saved her. Leave this place behind, Sunny. You don't need it._

* * *

Sunny woke up sweating and screaming. He looked around his room, terrified, looking for Mari. His sister was sitting up in her bed, trying to get Sunny's attention. Normally, she would have woken Sunny up by walking to his bed, but...

She couldn't walk. Sunny remembered how his heart sank when she told him, but she also told him that it was a burden that she thought both of them would have to bear. From Mari's perspective, it was her fault everything happened. She failed to be a perfect sister, after all. He also remembered her warm smile when she asked him if he would help take care of her.

"Sunny!" she called, her frustration in her inability to move to comfort her brother obvious. "Come here."

Sunny stood up and walked over to his sister's bed, tears welling in his eyes. She scooted her body over and then moved her legs manually, making room for Sunny on the bed. She patted the mattress, telling Sunny it was okay to lie down. He sat himself next to his sister and scooted close to her, burying his face in her shoulder. "You had a bad dream, right?"

Sunny nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Sunny squeezed his sister tighter, refusing to let go, as if she would disappear if he didn't hold onto her tight enough. Tears dripped from his eyes, evidence of the fear the nightmare brought upon him. "I guess that's a no," Mari said, squeezing her brother back. "It's okay, Sunny. I'm still here. I'm not going to let anything take me away from you."

Sunny lied down on the bed, and his sister did likewise, holding him like a mother would hold her child. "I'll see you in the morning, Sunny."

Sunny didn't respond. Somehow, he was already asleep.

* * *

Mari, on the other hand, was having trouble sleeping. She had a lot on her mind. She knew she had to tell the others what happened, but she was worried that they - Hero especially - would lash out at Sunny because of it. It had been three weeks since she and Sunny were let out of the hospital, their liberation coming after a two-week stay, but Mari still couldn't work up the nerve to tell them. She felt guilty; she knew that telling her friends what happened would also mean telling them about the abuse she put her brother through, and though she was comfortable admitting her mistakes to Sunny, her other friends were a different story.

Sunny was her little brother who had loved her more than anything since the moment he was born. She knew her other friends loved her too, but what if they knew how much she screwed up? Aubrey and Basil would be devastated if they learned how much pain she had put Sunny through. Mari was scared. What if Hero didn't listen to her and blamed Sunny for taking away her legs? What if Basil didn't forgive her for the pain she caused Sunny?

Then she realized that no matter what future she imagined, there was one positive constant: No matter what happened, Mari didn't think Kel would be angry.

"Thank God for that boy," Mari whispered to herself. Kel had moments where he did and said things that were ill-advised, but the boy didn't have a single ounce of malice anywhere in his soul. Hero often talked about how he worried that Kel would never grow up, to which Mari replied that the world needed more people like Kel. Mari wished she had been as carefree as he was when she was twelve. Time marched on, however, and now she was a top-of-the-class college prep student who _really_ needed to lighten up. Mari knew her perfectionism was her greatest flaw, but she couldn't help it. When things weren't as good as they could be, it bothered her.

With her little brother sleeping soundly beside her, still holding onto her for dear life, she knew she would have to face her friends' disappointment. Mari hated seeing her brother feeling like she would leave him. She knew he felt lonely, but she didn't understand how much until it was almost too late. She almost _died_.

What would have happened if she had died, and left Sunny all alone? Especially if she had died like that... Sunny was only twelve. He wouldn't have been able to handle it. She remembered what he yelled at her right before he pushed her.

_"Let me go! You don't understand anything!"_

Sunny had been right. They both knew that. When she had first woken up in the hospital, with Hero holding her hand as she slept, the first thing she thought about was if they missed the recital. Then, she remembered that Sunny had fallen too, and she hated herself for not thinking about him first. What was wrong with her?

_I need to use the restroom._

Mari gently removed Sunny's hands off of her and used her arms to lift herself into the wheelchair sitting next to her bed. Then she took the breaks off and rolled out of the room, moving down the hallway to get to the bathroom. She paused at the staircase. She couldn't see the bottom in the darkness, and it felt like it was a lot longer than it had been in the past. She looked at the lift her father had installed on the staircase so she could get up and down after she pleaded with him not to move her bed out of Sunny's room. She knew her brother needed her, now more than ever.

She wheeled into the restroom, turned on the light, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She almost felt like there should have been something else looking back at her, but it was just her.

* * *

"I'm okay, Hero. Really. You don't need to worry so much."

"He pushed you, Mari. You could have died," Hero countered angrily.

Right now, Sunny was with the other kids, who hadn't fully understood what happened. All they knew was that, apparently, Mari didn't slip and fall, but instead got pushed by Sunny during an argument. They knew that Mari asked them not to blame Sunny, that both of them had a hand in what happened. For twelve-year-olds, it was a pretty open and shut case.

For a sixteen-year-old who almost lost the girl he loved, however, it was an entirely different story. Wisely, Mari started off with what caused the argument; that she had pushed Sunny too hard while practicing, that he threw his violin down the stairs in anger. She admitted that she was in the wrong, and said that she might as well have broken it herself. Then she told them that Sunny pushed her, and as soon as those words came out of her mouth, Hero stormed off, forcing Mari to hurriedly wheel after him.

"Hero, please." Mari reached for his hands and looked into his eyes, trying to appeal to his kindness. "You know Sunny would never mean to hurt me. He's been having nightmares ever since it happened. He's twelve years old."

"So? He took your legs, Mari," Hero snapped. "What if he hadn't caught you? What if he had killed you, Mari? What would we have done then?"

"You guys would have been okay without me," Mari replied, squeezing Hero's hand tightly. "The bond all of us have won't go away no matter what happens. I trust that you would have been there for them, Hero. Like you need to be here for Sunny - for both of us - right now."

Hero sat down on the floor and sighed, trying his best to cool down. Mari rotated her chair and leaned down to hold him as best she could. Sitting in the piano room with Hero reminded Mari of what happened. The light shining though the window, the mistakes Sunny kept making, how she got more and more frustrated with him with each passing moment. The kids were sitting in the living room, supposedly preparing their Halloween costumes, but she knew what they were really doing was waiting for Mari and Hero to come back.

"I'm not as strong as you think I am, Mari," Hero said, resting his head on her lap. "Those kids look up to us, but we don't have our lives together any better than they do."

"Something that I've realized over this past month is that they don't care," Mari answered. "They'll love us no matter what."

"Like you're one to say that," Hero said, pointing out Mari's hypocrisy.

She lightly whacked him on the head. "Shut up! I know I can't walk, but I can still punch you if you need it. I'm trying to comfort you."

Hero laughed. "I know, I know. You're right. I know you guys knew I would react like this, so..." his voice trailed off. He stood up and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you, Mari."

"Anything for my Hero," she said, kissing him on his cheek.

Hero pushed her wheelchair back into the living room, where all the kids were lying in a heap crying profusely. Mari could tell that Kel was doing his best to console his friends, but Aubrey, Basil, and Sunny were just sobbing and spouting almost-incoherent apologies and sentiments.

"Of course you'll always be my friend, Sunny!" Aubrey sputtered in between sobs.

"There's no need to cry, guys..." Kel said, even though he was crying too. "Mari and Hero will come back soon."

Sunny and Basil didn't say anything. Basil was crying the loudest, and his face was even more red and puffy than the others.

"Who wants to get costumes on?" Hero called, interrupting the kids' weeping.

The kids took one look at them and immediately dashed toward them like puppies running toward their mother. Basil, however, stood back, and Mari saw him take out his camera. Basil's camera flashed, permanently recording their half-crying, half-smiling faces for future generations to see. Only then did Basil set his camera down on the couch and run to join the group.

They all hugged for what seemed like forever, crying and mumbling incoherent words of comfort that no one outside of their group would have been able to understand. Mari was happy.


	3. Aubrey.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I love you, Mari."

Mari was excited to go trick-or-treating with the kids. She was dressed up as a witch, and she had a magic wand that she laid flat on her lap when she wasn't using it to wave around to please the gaggle of preteens she and Hero always hung out with. Her long, purple dress and pointy hat made her feel spooky. She just thought it was a shame that she couldn't get up on people's porches and get her own candy.

Kel was dressed as Captain Spaceboy; Basil was wearing a pumpkin costume; Hero had donned the mantle of a brave knight; Aubrey was dressed up as a nurse; Sunny wore a sheet with eyeholes cut out of it. He was a ghost.

Sunny had never _not_ gone as a ghost before. Mari liked to think he liked the simplicity of it - why spend all the time and effort it takes to get a complicated costume when you can just poke some holes in an old sheet and throw it over your head? He might have even used the same sheet the previous year, but the sheet didn't have any defining features to distinguish it from any other white sheet.

Aubrey ran up to Sunny and did a twirl. "How do I look, Sunny?"

"You look nice, Aubrey," Sunny answered simply.

Knowing that was more than she was likely going to get in a long time, Aubrey was contented with her haul of attention from Sunny for the night. Any more would simply be a bonus. Sunny, for his part, appeared thoroughly amused by everyone else's costumes, and he kept stealing glances at everyone when they weren't paying attention.

"Well, guys," Hero said, donning an expensive-looking metal helmet, completing his knightly attire and completely hiding his face. "I think it's about time we head off. Remember the buddy system! Stick together with your partner and if you get lost, don't move! We'll come and find you."

They weren't supposed to be splitting up, but Hero was insistent on setting up a safety measure just in case someone got separated from the group. Hero, being the only one in the group physically capable of properly maneuvering Mari's wheelchair through a crowd, was paired with Mari. Sunny was paired with Aubrey, and Basil was paired with Kel. Mari hoped that the buddy system wasn't actually necessary.

Hero positioned himself behind Mari's wheelchair and pointed his prop sword forward. "Charge, my squires," he shouted. "For candy!"

"For candy!" the other kids shouted in unison, following behind Hero in a two-by-two line.

* * *

Aubrey just kept holding Sunny's hand. And Sunny was letting her. Aubrey felt like she was about to burst. She kept stealing glances at him, wondering if he was going to notice, but it looked like he didn't. Either that, or he was hiding however he really felt behind that flat exterior of his. Aubrey wasn't sure which one to hope for.

They stopped at the first house, and the four children walked up the steps to grab their candy. "Trick or treat!" Aubrey cheered, holding her plastic bag out for the old lady on the porch to put candy in. She waited for Sunny to get his candy, then she grabbed his hand again and led him back to where Mari and Hero were waiting.

This cycle repeated an endless number of times, with the group deciding to hit Faraway Plaza last to wait for the crowd to thin out. Gino's typically handed out pizza coupons on Halloweens, and the various stores always handed out different things. Wandering down the different streets, they passed by Basil's house, where his grandmother and Polly sat outside handing out fried sunflower seeds. Aubrey paused, however, when she realized they were about to make their way down her street.

"Hey, guys..." she said, feeling uneasy at the prospect of her friends seeing her house. "Can we go back? I wanna go to the plaza."

Hero stopped pushing Mari and turned around to face her. "Isn't this your street, Aubrey? Why don't you want to get candy here?" Kel asked.

"I... I just don't okay? Can we please go back?" Aubrey answered, not wanting to tell them the real reason.

Hero turned Mari around, and Mari brushed Aubrey's hair out of her face. "If you don't want to trick or treat here, we don't have to. It's getting late anyways."

Kel frowned, obviously disappointed at the prospect of missing out on candy, but he quietly swallowed his discontent and refocused. "Does that mean we're going to the plaza now?"

"Yes, Kel, we're going to the plaza," Mari answered. "Take us to the plaza, sir knight!" Mari shouted, pointing her wand in the same fashion Hero waved his sword earlier.

"It would by my pleasure, milady!" Hero shouted in return.

The children reformed into their line, and Aubrey breathed a sigh of relief. She would have to talk to Sunny about it later, but she couldn't do it now. She looked at Sunny, his normally dull expressions obscured even further by the white sheet over his head. Sunny was expressive in different ways than most people, but it was usually easy to tell how he was feeling. Before Sunny and Mari had their argument, though, he got harder to read. He didn't even make the subtle changes in body language and facial structure he did whenever he had been sad or upset in the past, but he was angry enough to fight with _Mari_ of all people.

Ever since, the small furrowing of his brow when he was angry, his slouching when he was sad, and his reserved energy when he was happy was harder to see. Aubrey really hoped he got better. He wasn't the same since Mari lost her legs. Sunny looked in her direction, and she immediately averted her gaze.

They arrived at the plaza, but there was still a decent number of people around. Aubrey felt like she would have been swept away if she hadn't been holding onto Sunny's hand. As expected, Gino's was handing out pizza coupons, and Hobbeez was giving out tiny little keychains. Aubrey got a little Mr. Plantegg keychain, and she immediately fell in love with it. "Look, Sunny! What did you get?"

Sunny showed her a tiny keychain of Captain Spaceboy. "That's awesome, Sunny!" Aubrey said. "I hope you really like it."

Sunny nodded, showing it to Kel and Basil who were holding up their own keychains. "Check it out, guys!" Kel said. "I got Sweetheart!"

Suddenly, Aubrey really wanted that Sweetheart keychain.

A quick flash of light almost blinded Aubrey, and she saw Basil with his camera raised, snapping a photo of the three friends comparing keychains. She could always trust him to take snapshots of the best possible moments.

"What did you get, Basil?" Kel asked. "I bet it wasn't as cool as mine!"

Basil rubbed the back of his head and held up his keychain, which was a yellow sphere with rings around it, like Saturn. "It's not as flashy as any of you guys', but I think it's cool."

"That's really awesome, Basil," Kel said, looking as if he were tortured by the fact that Basil got the Saturn keychain instead of him. "I guess I was wrong. Yours is a lot cooler than mine..."

"We can trade if you like, Kel," Basil suggested.

"Really?" Kel asked, excited. "Here!" He held out his Sweetheart keychain in front of him and Basil handed him the Saturn key chain, finalizing the trade.

Aubrey sighed. She didn't have the heart to take Basil's keychain away from him, but she really wanted the one that matched Sunny's. Either way, though, she got one thing she wanted. She stuck the Mr. Plantegg keychain into her pocket. Then, she heard Hero calling, "Aubrey! Sunny! Kel! Basil! Where are you guys?"

She realized that they had been separated from their older chaperones for a while, and immediately started calling back. "Over here, Hero!" She jumped up and waved her arms to get his attention. Kel and Basil jumped up and shouted too, but Sunny just jumped and waved his arms, smiling.

* * *

When they all got back, Sunny and Mari's mother had already set out linens in the living room for Aubrey, Kel, Hero, and Basil to use. She brought out a lot more than they really needed, probably because she was aware of the fact that Hero and Kel building a blanket fort was an inevitability. Hero wheeled Mari into the living room, and Mari said, "Hero, why don't you take Kel, Basil, and Sunny up to our room so you guys can build a blanket fort? I'll have Aubrey help me."

"Are you sure?" Hero asked. Aubrey could tell he definitely wanted to build a fort with his brother, but he was also worried about Mari.

"We'll be fine. You know how strong Aubrey is."

Hero rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure this is a thinly veiled excuse to make it so that you and Aubrey can talk by yourselves, right?"

Mari nodded. "You know me too well, Hero."

"Alright!" Hero exclaimed. "Come on, boys! Fort Hero needs to be constructed before dawn!" He scrambled up the stairs, an armful of blankets in tow.

"No! I wanna name it Fort Kel!" Kel raced after him, and Basil and Sunny followed, all carrying heaps of blankets.

Then, Mari turned her attention to Aubrey, who was a little bit nervous. What did Mari have to talk to her about? "I hope you don't mind me talking to you alone like this, Aubrey, it's just..."

"It's okay, Mari," Aubrey reassured. "Do you need to ask me something?"

"How do you feel about Sunny?" she asked.

Aubrey was completely caught off guard by that question. Her cheeks flushed red, and she immediately moved to hide her face with her hands. "Sunny? Well - I guess - Um... He's a good friend!" Aubrey barely managed to sputter out a coherent answer in her shock.

Mari shook her head. "You didn't understand what I meant," she said, thinking some more. "Are you upset with him any? Over what happened?"

So _that's_ what she meant. Crisis averted.

Aubrey lowered her hands back to her sides and fumbled with the sides of her dress. "I'm not upset with him. I mean, I guess I was hurt when I found out he broke his violin, but you said not to be angry at him for it, so..."

"Are you angry that he hurt me?" Mari questioned.

Aubrey was never angry with either of them. She just wanted to spend time with her friends, that was all. "No. He didn't mean to, right? You said it was just an accident."

Mari sighed in relief. "I'm glad. Can you keep an eye on him for me, Aubrey? He needs as many people watching out for him as possible, and I know you really care about him."

Aubrey blushed again. "Yeah, I do."

"That makes me happy, Aubrey. Thank you. It's good to know that there are people who will take care of him," Mari said, smiling gently. It was obvious her mind was somewhere else, but Aubrey had no idea where. "Can you lend me a hand, now? I need to get up on this lift."

Aubrey went over and acted as a handlebar for Mari to hoist herself with as she moved to the lift's seat. Hitting the button to lift her up to the top floor, she slowly cruised into the darkness. It was kind of funny, seeing Mari slowly slip away like some kind of spirit. Aubrey followed her, helping Mari into her second-floor wheelchair and then the pair walked into Sunny and Mari's room, where the boys had constructed a fort and were whacking each other with pillows.

"You'll never defeat me! I am the indomitable Sir Hero!" Hero shouted, whacking Kel with a pillow and sending the energetic boy plopping to the ground.

"Oh yeah!" Kel said, standing up and grabbing two pillows. "Take this!" Kel smushed Hero's head in between the two pillows, fighting his older brother to keep Hero's head covered. Hero had already taken off his helmet, but all the boys except for Basil, whose costume was too large to roughhouse in, still had their costumes on.

"Sic 'em, guys!" Kel shouted. "I don't know how long I can hold him!"

Basil and Sunny leapt into action, pelting the poor teenager with a flurry of blows Aubrey wasn't sure anyone would be able to psychologically recover from. Taking note of which side Kel was on, and wanting to be on the opposite, Aubrey picked up a pillow and rushed into combat, smacking Kel to the ground. "Fear not, Sir Hero!" she exclaimed proudly, still whacking the now defenseless Kel. "I have come to assist you!"

"Hey, that's no fair!" Kel protested, covering his face with his arms to defend himself against Aubrey's attack. "You totally snuck up on me!"

Aubrey didn't care, and continued hammering the boy with blow after blow, laughing the whole time. She didn't stop until she heard a _CLICK!_ and she looked over to see Basil taking a snapshot of their pillow fight. After, she wanted to go back to beating up Kel, but it was too late. The photo had created too much of an opening.

Kel grabbed two pillows and used them as shields, carefully deflecting all of Aubrey's attacks. He was still on the defensive, though. Aubrey had the upper hand. Kel knew she was unusually strong for a twelve-year-old girl, and that she could overpower him whenever she wanted. Kel knew he was operating on borrowed time.

"Mari, now!" Kel shouted. Mari, who had just come into the room, turned on the light, blinding everyone inside. A chorus of groans echoed from inside the fort as everyone went to cover their eyeballs. Mari wheeled inside, laughing at the group's silliness. "I guess that means I win, right?" she joked. "Come on guys. You need to change clothes. You can't sleep in your costumes."

Hero, who had just finished getting obliterated by Sunny's childish - yet unusually potent - fury, quickly sat up. "Okay, Mari. I wouldn't want to sleep in my armor, after all."

Sunny gently took off his sheet, folded it up, and placed it underneath his bed, patting it gently as if preparing it for a long, annual slumber. Kel grabbed a backpack and took some clothes out of it, rushing out of the room. "I'll switch clothes in the bathroom. Don't come in!"

"I'll have Aubrey help me change. Can you boys leave so we can have the room for ourselves?"

Sunny nodded, and took Basil by the hand to lead him out of the room. Hero followed them.

* * *

Aubrey had wanted to sleep next to Sunny, but Basil got to his bed before she did. Instead, she got stuck in the blanket fort with Kel and Hero. She had slept soundly, but then Hero got up in the middle of the night. She continued to pretend to be asleep, but Hero didn't come back. Instead, he heard him go over to Mari's bed and shake her awake.

"Mari," he said. "Wake up."

"What is it, Hero?" she asked tiredly, yawning slightly. Aubrey couldn't see her, but she would have bet money that she still had her eyes closed. "Can't it wait until morning?"

"You told me to talk to you when the kids were asleep," Hero reminded her. What was so important that everyone couldn't hear about it? A surprise party? Kel's birthday was on the 11th. If they were planning a party for Kel, though, why not just wait for a moment when Kel wasn't around? Wouldn't it be less risky to wait until he wasn't in the same room? Why would they need to keep it a secret from Aubrey, Basil, and Sunny too?

"Oh... right," Mari said. There was a pause, then Aubrey heard her shuffle in her sheets. "Sit down. I need to talk to you."

"Alright," Hero replied. Aubrey heard the sound of Hero sitting down on Mari's bed. "What's up?"

"I'm worried, Hero. About Sunny. He hasn't been as energetic since... Well, you know."

So Mari noticed it too. Aubrey thought it was only natural, considering she was his older sister.

"Hey, if I were in his position, I'm sure I'd be shaken too," Hero replied. "Give him time. He's a strong kid. He'll be fine."

"I kept telling him not to be upset over what happened, but he keeps looking at me like I'm a ghost. He's _scared_ , not just shaken. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to make him feel, better, Hero."

Aubrey felt guilty for eavesdropping. Mari sounded really upset. She considered standing up and revealing that she was awake, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"You worry too much, Mari," Hero consoled. "You always feel like the weight of the world needs to rest on your shoulders, but it doesn't. You only need to take Mari-sized portions, okay?"

"Sunny is part of my portion, you know that. If anything were to happen to him... I don't know what I would do, Hero. I'm worried that... Nevermind." Mari cutting off her thought while speaking to Hero was unusual.

"Mari," Hero said.

"I'm worried he hates me or something. That he looks at me differently because of what I did. I'm worried that he doesn't think his big sister is here for him anymore," Mari continued, her voice cracking. "Even worse, I'm worried that he blames himself for what happened to my legs. It wasn't his fault, Hero. It wasn't." Aubrey could hear gentle cries coming from Mari. "I failed him, Hero. He looked up to me and I failed him. He was upset and sad and tired and I screamed at him. I yelled until my throat hurt and my eyes were watering. What if I do it again?"

"Listen to me, Mari." Hero's voice was firm, but soft. "That boy loves you more than anything else on this planet. Even _I_ can see that, and I'm denser than lead. He trusts you. You're the best big sister anyone could ever ask for. You forgave him for pushing you down the stairs and taking your legs, for pete's sake. You made a mistake. That's all it was. You're human, Mari. Nobody expects you to be perfect."

"Hero..." Mari continued gently crying.

Aubrey had had no idea Mari was feeling that way. She felt bad for not telling them she was listening. _I need to tell them,_ she thought. Aubrey crawled out of the blanket fort and moved to the side of Mari's bed, looking at the floor.

Hero noticed her first. "Aubrey?" he said, surprised. "How long have you been standing there?"

Mari yelped quietly and wiped the tears away from her eyes. Then she rotated her body to face Aubrey. "Hey, Aubrey. What's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

"You're sad, Mari." Aubrey said, confessing her guilt. "I'm sorry I was listening, but Hero woke me up..."

Mari cast a rueful glare in Hero's direction. "It's okay, Aubrey. I was just telling him how I was feeling," she reassured, sticking her arms out to go for a hug. "I'm okay. I promise."

Aubrey hugged her back, and she felt like her guilt was washed away by Mari's warmth. "Now you get back to bed, okay? Both of you." She nudged Hero with her elbow, trying to get him out of her bed. "I need to get my beauty sleep or Kel will mistake me for a troll in the morning."

Aubrey heard a laugh come out of the blanket fort. Mari immediately facepalmed. "How many of you guys are awake?"

Kel crawled out of the fort, and Basil and Sunny sat up in their bed. Mari gave a look of complete and utter contempt at Hero, whose clumsiness most likely woke up the other children. "Never ask Hero to do anything sneaky again," Mari noted. "Since you're all awake anyway, come here. Group hug time. Sunny comes first."

They all gathered around Mari and piled into a group cuddle. Aubrey heard Sunny whisper, "I love you, Mari."

Aubrey meant to get up and go back to sleep in the blanket fort, but with Mari's soft covers and everyone cuddling around her, she fell asleep.


	4. Aubreyspace.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ???

"Hello?" Aubrey found herself in an almost empty room, save for the dozens of Mr. Plantegg toys scattered across the pastel pink floor. "Where am I?"

Aubrey slowly stood up, grabbing one of the Mr. Plantegg's and squeezing it tightly. "Is anyone there?" she called.

A strange warmth seemed to envelop her, like she was in the most natural place she could have ever set foot in. She turned around, trying to get a bearing on her surroundings, and she saw -

Herself. Sitting on the ground, with her legs sprawled out. Only, she looked a lot older and a lot meaner, like she had been tested by the worst possible thing that could have ever happened to her, and she failed to pass the test. She had the dyed bright pink hair that Aubrey had talked about with her friends, and she wore a black crop top, a white jacket with yellow trim, and a blue jean skirt. Her eyes were also much more vivid, as if there were dozens of emotions all bubbling up at once, but she didn't know how to deal with any of them.

The older version of her looked in her direction, smiling slightly. "You really did it, huh?" she asked. "I can't believe it. Normally, at this point, you would have started beating up Basil by now."

Aubrey didn't understand. Why would she beat up Basil?

Older Aubrey shook her head. "God, I was such an idiot," she complained. "It's a bit unbelievable, seeing myself here again, after everything. I tried to lock my feelings away in this little box, but I couldn't wind up making it work. It was like..." she paused for a minute, trying to find the words. "It was like they took a nailbat to it."

Aubrey didn't understand what she was saying. "What are you talking about?" she questioned. "Who are you?"

Older Aubrey chuckled. "I am _the_ single worst version of you. I won't go into detail, though," she winced, "I don't really want to talk about it."

"But you look cool," Aubrey said. "You even have pink hair."

Aubrey picked up another Mr. Plantegg off of the ground and handed it to Older Aubrey. "Here. I think you need this, right? I know I wouldn't be able to get better if I didn't have Mr. Plantegg. He's a good friend. Now we can both have one!"

Older Aubrey reluctantly took the stuffed toy and held it close to her chest. "You're a lot smarter than me, you know," Older Aubrey said. "I wish I was still like you."

"Why?" Aubrey asked. "You seem really cool. If I grow up to be like you, then-"

"You don't want to, Aubrey," Older Aubrey interrupted. "Trust me. I screwed up big time. The worst of the worst is sitting right in front of you."

"I don't think you should be saying things like that about yourself," Aubrey reprimanded.

"It's true," Older Aubrey snapped. "After what happened to Basil and Sunny, I couldn't take it anymore, so... so I just..."

"You wound up here?" Aubrey asked. She didn't really understand what was going on, but she was certain that the older her was upset. "I've never been here before. What is this place?"

"Aubreyspace," Older Aubrey answered. "Or at least, that's what I like to call it. It used to be filled with a lot of stuff, but now it's just got these old Mr. Planteggs in it. I'm done stuffing my emotions in here, that's for sure. I guess you were sent here to help me move on, right? That's ironic. God sent the one thing I rejected the most to get me to stop rejecting my life."

"To move on? Did someone break your heart?" Aubrey asked. She only ever heard the phrase used in romance books and movies.

"Yeah, in a way," Older Aubrey concluded. There was an air of finality in the way she said it, like she knew her soul would never be mended after whatever happened to her. "I had my heart broken a lot."

"I'm sorry about that." Aubrey did her best to comfort her older self, but she wasn't really sure how to. She didn't even know what was wrong.

Older Aubrey smiled and rubbed Aubrey's head. "Never change, Aubrey. Life will be okay if you just stay the way you are." She laid down on the ground, using another Mr. Plantegg as a pillow. "Say, where you are, is Mari still around?"

Aubrey was confused. "Of course she is. She had an accident a while ago, but she was okay. Sunny got hurt too, so everyone was worried, but we're all still friends."

"Damn, I wish that had happened where I was. Instead, I wound up leaving Hero and Kel alone like a moron. Those two are really going to have the worst days of their lives coming up. I wish I hadn't done it. I couldn't handle the pain of losing Mari and Basil and Sunny so... so I-" she stopped herself from finishing her sentence. "I almost forgot you were just a kid, even if you are me." She sighed and continued. "I've been sitting here for a long time. For a while, I thought it was some kind of afterlife, but then I realized that it must be some kind of purgatory. An in-between. A place for souls who aren't at rest to ponder their thoughts until they figure out how to deal with themselves."

"You aren't at rest?" Aubrey asked, slowly picking up on the idea that Older Aubrey wasn't alive anymore.

Older Aubrey shook her head. "I haven't been for a long time. There are a lot of things I hate."

"Like what?" Aubrey questioned.

Older Aubrey paused for a moment, then let everything out in a flurry of emotions. "I hate Kel for bringing Sunny out of his house and making it seem like everything was going to be okay. I hate Hero for running away from everything like he did when Mari passed. I hate Sunny and Basil and Mari for not being able to stick around a little while longer. None of this would have happened if they had just realized how much we all loved them!" Her voice grew more raw and emotional with every word. "But more than that, I hate myself. I hate you. I hate that I turned into _this_ from a sad little girl who couldn't deal with her own feelings of failure. I know Kel was just trying to help. I know Hero was grieving, and I ran even further than he did. I wound up doing the same thing Mari and Basil and Sunny did."

Older Aubrey sat up and brought her knees to her chest, holding her Mr. Plantegg tightly. "I'm so bitter and angry and I left them behind again. Why couldn't I have been like you, Aubrey? Why? Why was I so stupid? All I want to do is go back and be the me I was before, but I'm broken. All I've been able to think about is how I've forsaken the dreams of who I used to be and how I wasted my life feeling miserable for no god damn reason!" Older Aubrey started to cry, sobbing into the Mr. Plantegg. "I'm so sorry, Aubrey. I screwed everything up. You were so happy, and because of me, everything was screwed up. I couldn't ever shake the feeling that Mari killed herself because of me - That she ended it all because there was something that _I_ missed. That _I_ failed to see."

"Aubrey," Aubrey said, walking towards her older counterpart. "It's okay. I forgive you."

"What?"

"I forgive you. Whatever it was that happened, I know you did the best you could. I am you, after all," Aubrey said. She wrapped her older self in a tight hug. "Hero said that nobody is perfect. That means that we can't be perfect, either, so it's okay that you made some mistakes. Everyone will forgive you. I promise."

"No..." Older Aubrey sobbed. "You don't understand..."

"Maybe you're the one who doesn't understand. The friends that I know all love you more than anything else in the world. What is there for me to not understand?" Aubrey said.

Older Aubrey cried into Aubrey's shoulder for a long time. It seemed like hours had passed before her older self finally stopped sobbing. "You know," Older Aubrey sniffled, "I think I understand why they sent you."

Suddenly, Aubrey's arms slipped through her older self. Older Aubrey had grown transparent, and she was slowly fading away. "I think I'm finally headed off," Older Aubrey said. "Live a good life, kid. I'll be watching. Make sure to keep an eye on Sunny for me, okay?"

Older Aubrey faded away entirely, and Aubrey was left alone in the pink room, all the Mr. Planteggs slowly fading away, just like Older Aubrey did.

Then, she woke up.

* * *

Aubrey woke up with a jolt. She looked around, expecting to see her friends scattered around Mari's bed with her, but Kel and Hero were already gone. She wasn't surprised, though. Hero liked to make breakfast when he was at Sunny's house and Kel always like to be the first one to get at breakfast.

 _What a weird dream._ she thought, standing up. Sitting up on Mari's bed, she saw that Mari was also out of the room, and Sunny and Basil were gone too. "Seriously, guys?" she said, disappointed. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

Aubrey made her way downstairs and saw her friends munching on breakfast in Sunny's kitchen. Kel was eating the fastest, and he had three full plates of food scattered around him. Hero noticed her round the corner and said, "Hey there, sleepyhead. We tried everything we could to wake you up, but you just wouldn't stop snoozing. We even got Kel to annoy you, but you were knocked out cold."

She was sleeping _that_ heavily? She knew she had to sleep soundly to avoid getting woken up by her mom and dad's arguments, but this was a whole new level. They even sent Kel after her and she _still_ didn't wake up? Talk about sleeping like a dead person.

"Well, either way," Hero continued, "you woke up just in time for breakfast. Come and get it while it's hot! I saved you a plate."

Hero placed a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of Aubrey, and Aubrey started eating, thinking about her dream. She was a pretty active dreamer, but none of her dreams had ever been as vivid as the one she had just had. What happened? Was it actually some kind of ghost from the future, or was it just a random dream? Aubrey rubbed her chin to think, but she couldn't make any leeway.

"Hey, Basil, you like mystical stuff, right?" Aubrey asked, hoping his knowledge of flowers extended to dreams.

"Kind of, if you count the language of flowers as mystical," Basil said, grinning.

"I had a weird dream, so I was wondering if you could shed some light on it," Aubrey clarified. All of the heads in the kitchen turned her way.

"What was it about?" Mari asked.

"Well, basically, there was an old version of me with cool pink hair, and she kept saying strange things about you and Sunny and Basil being gone," Aubrey explained to Mari. "She was really sad, and I did my best to comfort her, but she eventually just disappeared, like she was never even there."

"That is an odd dream," Hero said, setting the dirty dishes in the sink and bringing his own plate of food to eat. "I think I actually had a similar one the night after Mari's accident. I didn't give it as much thought as you did, Aubrey, but it is a bizarre coincidence."

"Really?" Kel said, his mouth finally empty of food. "I had one too. Old me was all like, 'Make sure not to lose your friends, or you'll wind up like me.' There were basketballs and toys and stuff scattered all over the ground, and old me looked super sad. I wonder what happened to him."

Hero, Kel, and Aubrey all shifted their gaze to the other side of the table where Basil, Sunny, and Mari were sitting. Mari raised her hands defensively. "Hey, I didn't have any weird dreams. Don't look at me like that. You guys must have some kind of neural link or something," she let out a dry chuckle, the chuckle she always did when she was getting ready to tease Hero. "You guys are unlucky. No way would I ever want to have a telepathic connection with Hero."

Hero's face went red. "Hey! That was uncalled for! Besides, neural links or whatever don't exist. It's just a coincidence, that's all."

"What if they were ghosts?" Sunny suddenly interrupted.

"Like, from the future?" Kel asked. "Do you think they were trying to warn us about something? Like the apocalypse?"

Sunny nodded. Aubrey didn't like that Sunny was just letting Kel's imagination run wild, but she would have been hard pressed to say that Sunny's theory didn't have any evidence to back it up, or that she wasn't interested in finding out if they really _were_ ghosts.

"Alright, guys!" Mari said, pointing her finger in the air to get everyone's attention. "Our mission by the end of the weekend is to figure out if Hero, Aubrey, and Kel were visted by ghosts from the future, and if they were, to make sure that their bad future never comes to pass!"

Hero rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I'm not really sure if that's the best idea..."

"You're just scared of ghosts, Hero!" Mari accused.

'Well, yeah but-"

"Hero is a scaredy-cat," Sunny whispered that in Basil's ear, but everyone could tell he meant to let everyone at the table hear it. Aubrey made a mental note to never earn the ire of both Sunny and Mari at the same time, lest she meet an untimely and grisly fate. Aubrey could tell that Hero's dignity had been shattered by Sunny, of all people, calling him a scaredy-cat.

Hero sighed, exasperated and unwilling to argue over ghosts. "Alright, fine. But if anything weird happens, we're calling it quits."

"Yay!" Mari shouted. She wheeled over to Hero's side of the table and kissed him on the cheek. "You're the best, Hero."

Mari turned her attention back to the children. "Alright, guys! We only have two days to find the answers we're looking for, so we need to get all the information we can. Kel, Aubrey, Hero, write down everything that happened in your dreams, and we'll move on from there!"

* * *

"Oh..." Mari's voiced trailed off as she read the transcript of Aubrey's dream. There was a surprising amount of detail, and nothing, even the dialogue between Aubrey and her older self, had any gaps in it. "This is... not what I was expecting."

From what she could tell, the older Aubrey really _was_ from the worst possible world. It was a good thing Mari had decided to read the papers that Kel, Hero, and Aubrey wrote their dreams down on before sharing them to the others. Aubrey's dream had gone into the most detail about what happened, but Kel's and Hero's were just vague advice, and all three were incredibly depressing.

In the future their dreams talked about, Mari, Basil, and Sunny all committed suicide. What had happened to push them over the edge? Mari was worried. She didn't want anything to happen to them.

Mari shook her head, pushing away the thought. They were just dreams. There was no reason to believe they had any more credence to them than regular old ghost stories or dreams about being in your underwear onstage. Even then, Mari would never hurt herself like the dreams described. Even if she was depressed, she had Sunny to take care of. He was always her top priority, no matter what happened.

"What is it?" Hero asked. He only knew the content of his own dream. He went to peek over Mari's shoulder, but she hid the papers away from him.

"No! You can't look!" Mari yelled. "You were right, Hero. It would be better for us to just forget these dreams ever happened. They were just dreams, that's all."

"Are you okay, Mari?" Hero was concerned. "You look shaken up."

"It's too much, Hero. All of these... Why did you guys dream stuff like this? Why are they all so similar?" Mari was freaking out. What if the dream's events actually came to pass? Mari didn't want to die. She didn't want Basil or Sunny to die.

Hero kissed Mari on the forehead, reassuring her. "They're just dreams, Mari. Nothing bad is going to happen. I promise." His comforting gaze helped Mari calm down. Hero was a godsend.

Mari took a deep breath. "You're right, Hero. Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Without me to deal with you probably would have cured cancer by now," Hero joked. Mari gently punched him in the arm.

"You're a dork, Hero."

"I do my best, Mari."

"What do you think we should do with these?" Mari said, referring to the papers. The kids seemed really excited to look for ghosts, but she knew she couldn't share the papers' contents with them.

"We can throw them out," Hero said. "We can still look for ghosts even if we don't have these. We'll say something spooky like all the writing disappeared off of them before you could read them."

"That... is a good idea," Mari replied. "Can you hold onto them? I don't have anywhere to stash them."

"Sure thing." Hero took the papers from Mari and folded them into his pants pocket. "The moment I get the chance to throw them away, I will."

* * *

Hero didn't throw them away.

He wanted to, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He and his friends spent the whole day running around town, following old ghost stories and trying to summon phantoms, but to no avail. They concluded that ghosts didn't exist, and if they did, they weren't hanging out anywhere in Faraway Town. Sunny had seemed a little deflated, but he had been quickly distracted by Aubrey doing something cute that caught his eye.

Hero tucked the papers away into an old lunchbox he kept under his bed, not daring to read their contents. He couldn't shake the feeling that the papers might be important someday, though, and he had a pristine mental record of his own dream locked away in his mind.

 _"Don't run away from them,"_ Older Hero had said. _"They all need you."_

What did he mean? Why would Hero have ran away? He was missing pieces, but he intended to keep his promise to the mysterious dream entity. He loved his friends more than anything. What in the world could possibly happen to make him forget that?

Obviously something had happened to Older Hero, but the idea that whatever it was would force Hero into isolation and self-loathing was anathema. Hero didn't have the heart to leave his friends behind.

_"It was Mari... she..."_

Older Hero cut off his sentence, but it left Hero wondering. Did she fall in love with another person? Did she move away? Did she die?

No, that was unthinkable. "Then again," Hero said to himself, "he _did_ say it was the worst possible scenario."

If Mari passing away wasn't the worst possible scenario, he didn't know what was. The thing that bothered him was that it fell under the category of _possible_ scenarios. After her fall down the stairs, the fear of Mari dying fell too close to home.

Hero plopped down onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. All around him, glittering awards got the shine of the LED lightbulb in the center of the ceiling. On the other end of the room, Kel's side was plastered with sports posters and different kinds of equipment.

Kel walked into the room, a damp towel obscuring the boy's hair. "Hey, Hero," Kel said. "Wanna play video games?"

"Mom will probably call me down to help make dinner soon," Hero responded. He didn't look at Kel, instead maintaining his unflinching gaze at the ceiling.

"Yeah, in like an hour," Kel pushed. "Besides, we were on the last stage of Headring 2, remember? We were almost done beating the Floud."

"Alright, alright. Get the game booted up and we can play."

"Yay!" Kel cheered.

Hero stood up and pushed the dreams out of his mind. Whatever they were, he had other things to focus on.


	5. Marispace.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "They're all gone. All of them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF DEATH AND SUICIDE. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Mari was back in the piano room, practicing with Sunny. Only she couldn't move her body, only her eyes. Everything was in a monochrome tone, like an old black and white movie. She saw her hands flawlessly move over the keys, hitting every note perfectly and gracefully. Sunny was doing a good job too, until -

_EEEE!_

That squeal. The messed up high note. The one thing keeping them from moving on. Mari remembered how angry she had been. How frustrated she was. Sunny had refused to practice before, and this was the result. The recital was in four hours, and he couldn't play. Mari refused to stop until he fixed that note. The recital had to be perfect. Everyone would be looking at them. _Everyone would be watching._

_EEEE!_

She felt her mouth move, but the words coming out weren't being spoken by her. "Sunny, it's okay. We'll take it again from the top. You'll get it." Mari was disgusted with herself. She knew what was coming next.

"No," Sunny said. "I can't."

She had been surprised when it first happened. Too shocked by her little brother's words to do anything before he stormed out of the room. Then, she heard the crash.

Sunny was standing at the top of the stairs, looking angrily down at the now-destroyed violin. He was angry. Enraged. _Furious._

 _"No. Don't do it. Please. Stop!"_ Mari begged herself to stop moving, to refuse to step over the shattered instrument to unload her wrath at her brother. _"Don't make me live through this again."_

Mari felt sick to her stomach, but her body kept moving. She screamed. "Why in the hell did you do that, Sunny? What is your problem? The recital is in four hours! You idiot! Stupid, stupid, boy! I should have never agreed to do this!"

 _"Please. Stop. Not again."_ Mari knew what was coming. Sunny was going to run away, and then...

She kept yelling. She was unleashing every single ounce of pent-up rage she had concentrated at her brother. It was the first time she ever yelled at anyone. Mari could feel tears coming out of her eyes from anger.

Then, Sunny tried to run away. Mari caught him, stopping him from running down the stairs. "I'm not done talking to you, Sunny."

_"Let him go! Please!"_

"Let me go! You don't understand anything!" Sunny shrieked, pushing his sister off of him.

Mari went tumbling down the stairs, reaching her hand out desperately. This was different. Something was different. The look on Sunny's face. He didn't have the instant regret he was supposed to have. He was still angry.

 _"What?"_ Mari thought. Time seemed to slow down. She felt like she was just hovering in midair, waiting for something to catch her. _"Sunny?"_

Sunny didn't grab her hand.

She fell, the first step shattering her lower back. A spike of agony shot up through her entire body, only layering on top of the feeling of betrayal she felt. She flipped over, only barely registering what was going to happen next. She heard a _SNAP!_ and she was suddenly out of her own body, seeing herself crash lifelessly on top of Sunny's broken violin.

She stood in front of her own broken body, watching as Sunny's face morphed from anger into concern. "Mari?" he called out. "Mari!"

 _"What is going on?"_ she said. This time, her mouth responded, only she wasn't in her body anymore.

Sunny rushed down the stairs and shook Mari's body. It didn't respond. Tears started to well in Sunny's eyes. "Mari? Mari! Please wake up..."

 _"I'm right here Sunny. Your big sister is right here."_ Mari tried to hug Sunny, but she phased right through him.

Was she... dead?

"It'll be okay..." Sunny said. "It's not as scary as I think... She just needs some rest, that's all."

Sunny picked up Mari's body and hauled it up the stairs, tears dripping down his face. Seeing her brother like this was more painful than anything Mari had ever experienced. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Why didn't he catch her? Wait, was that...

Basil? What was he doing there?

They reached the top of the stairs, and Sunny pushed open the door to his bedroom. He and Basil set Mari down on her bed. "Mari?" Sunny cried. "Mari? Mari! Please wake up! Please!"

Sunny called out her name over and over again, begging, pleading for Mari to open her eyes. Sunny gripped Mari's arm and shook her again. "Please..."

Then it hit her. Mari understood. Hero's words flashed back to her mind. _"What if he hadn't caught you? What if he had killed you, Mari? What would we have done then?"_

 _"It wasn't your fault, Sunny..."_ Mari said, trying to comfort her little brother. _"It was just an accident. They'll forgive you. It's okay."_

Sunny couldn't hear her. Sunny sobbed, soaking the side of Mari's bed with tears. Mari could hear Sunny mumbling. "What if they ask what happened? I can't tell them. They won't believe me. It was just an accident."

"Sunny..." Mari heard Basil whisper. "Sunny!" Basil cried, desperately trying to get his attention.

Sunny curled up beside Mari's bed, sobbing into his knees. Basil stepped towards him, trembling, and placed his hands on Sunny's shoulders. "Sunny. I have an idea. If we can make this look like something else, like..."

Sunny stared into his friend's eyes. _"No."_ Mari thought. _"No!"_

"It's the only way out, Sunny. It'll be okay. Just follow my lead, alright?"

Basil picked up Mari's body, and Sunny grabbed the other side. They carried it down the stairs, past the broken violin, and opened up the sliding door to the backyard. Basil looked at his reflection in the glass before carrying Mari's body outside. It was a beautiful day, and a gust of wind blew, rustling the leaves of the trees and the hair of the boys. There was a jumprope sitting next to the tree.

A suicide. The pieces started to click together in Mari's mind. Was this the future everyone's dreams had talked about, or was it the past? Mari didn't know. She felt sick.

They set her body down on the ground, and Sunny watched the sunset as Basil tied the jumprope into a noose. Basil climbed up the tree, tying the loose end of the rope around a branch and then hopping down. Basil hoisted Mari's body up into the noose, and then tightened the rope around her neck. Mari couldn't breathe.

Basil grabbed Sunny's hand, his friend trying to pull away. Basil grabbed too tight, though, and Sunny couldn't escape from his grasp. Basil pulled Sunny away, trying to get him back into the house. Then, Sunny looked up, muttering, "Basil?"

Mari followed them into the house, trying to see what was going to happen next. Was this some sort of prank? A joke? There was no way this was real. It had to be a dream. Everyone was supposed to be alive. Before closing the door, though, Basil stopped, terror evident on the poor boy's face.

Sunny turned around, and the same expression of pure, raw, primordial fear crossed over Sunny's face, too.

Mari turned around, and then she saw it. **Something.**

 _"No."_ Mari muttered. _"This is all wrong. This shouldn't be happening. Why? Why didn't he catch me? I promised. I promised, so why? It wasn't supposed to be like this."_

Suddenly, the world dissipated, and Mari was suddenly sitting on a picnic blanket in a playground. She tried to stand up, but she couldn't move her legs. Then, she noticed the other her sitting across from her. She was wearing a blank white dress, and she had a bruise around her neck. She looked tired.

"I'm sorry I had to show you all of that," she said. "I still can't really believe it myself, even though it's been four years since I died. Do you want some candy? I have a lot." The Other Mari opened up the picnic basket sitting next to her and took out a chocolate bar. "You really like these, right? Of course you do, you're me."

Mari was shocked silent. She didn't know what to say. Other Mari tossed her the candy bar, and Mari absentmindedly opened it, nibbling on it in an effort to erase what she had just seen from her mind. The chocolate had no amnesia-inducing properties.

"You're worried, right?" Other Mari said. "Don't be. You got a good ending. You only lost your legs. I lost my life. We just need to talk, that's all. I'm not here to steal your soul or anything."

Mari didn't answer.

Other Mari frowned. "I know you're surprised, but you're kind of making this difficult for me."

"Why?" Mari asked. "Why did that happen? That wasn't supposed to..."

"Except that it did, somewhere," Other Mari confirmed.

"What do you mean?"

"Those dreams your friends had? They were just the beginning. In my timeline, we're all gone. Everyone. Me, Sunny, Basil, Aubrey, Hero, and Kel. In that order. It was the worst ending imaginable."

"You mean you all... committed suicide?"

"Everyone except for me." Other Mari sighed. "Those idiots. They make me want to punch them, but I guess I can't blame them. In the end, it was my fault. I keep wishing I could go back, but I can't."

Mari was barely comprehending what was going on. "Does that mean that I'm okay?" she asked. "I'm still alive?"

"Yes," Other Mari said. "I'm here because of what happened to my version of Sunny. When I died, I wasn't able to rest easily. It felt like I still had something I needed to do. So, I decided to do what I could to help Sunny. I stuck around in his head. I told him to forgive himself, but I don't think he ever figured out it was actually me." She laughed sadly. "There really isn't a lot you can do after you die. I wouldn't recommend it. Sunny wrestled with himself for years. He tried, over and over again, to accept what happened. To accept the truth. I really do believe everyone would have forgiven him, too."

"Only..." Mari prompted.

"Only he didn't realize how strong he was. He and Basil fought, and he jumped off the roof of the hospital. Basil found out, and drank herbicide. Aubrey and Kel needed Hero, but he shut himself off again. Then Aubrey stepped in front of a moving semi truck. Hero... I won't talk about what Hero did. After everything, the last thing Kel did before he drowned himself in the lake was smile, true to form."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Mari asked, Other Mari's words too painful to fully comprehend. "If I had a happy ending, why in the world are you telling me this?"

"Because I can't deal with it. Did you notice how everyone else was consoled by meeting with themselves? Aubrey was forgiven by her younger self. Hero told his younger self not to run away, because that was what he did. Kel told his younger self to do whatever it takes to keep his friends alive. I don't know if your Basil and Sunny will get visited too, and I don't know if I should hope for it or not. The thing keeping me from resting is the fact that I know it was my fault. I caused this. If I hadn't been so hard on Sunny, none of it would have happened. If I had picked an easier song, or been more patient."

Hearing herself rant about her worries was a lot different when Mari was the one listening. It almost sounded silly, but Mari knew exactly what Other Mari was talking about. "You forgave everyone except for yourself, right?"

Other Mari nodded. "I don't know how I can. It all happened because of me. Basil and Aubrey and Hero and Kel and... and Sunny. I failed them. I failed them all."

_You failed them._

"No, that's not-" Mari's voice suddenly stopped coming out.

Other Mari sighed. "You can hear it too, right? That means our picnic time is over. We're being called. Goodbye, Mari."

_Mari! Mari!_

* * *

Part way through the night, Mari woke Sunny up by talking in her sleep.

"I'm right here, Sunny," she had said. "Your big sister is right here."

Sunny walked over to her bed, trying to figure out what was going on. Was Mari having a nightmare? She had never had one before. What could possibly scare Mari so bad that she would have a nightmare?

Sunny put his hand on her arm and shook her. "Mari! Mari!" he called.

She woke up screaming, and she sat up quickly. "Sunny? Where are you? Sunny?" Mari looked around frantically. It must have been a really bad dream.

"Mari," he said, grabbing her hand. "I'm right here."

Mari calmed down, taking a deep breath and staring at Sunny with tears in her eyes. She held her hands out, obviously needing a hug. Sunny wrapped his sister in his arms, doing his best to console her. He sat down on Mari's bed, holding her the whole time. "Did you have a bad dream?" he asked, replicating all those times when he woke up Mari with his own nightmares.

Mari nodded.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Sunny asked. He wasn't super good at consoling people, but he was a good listener. He had a feeling that he didn't need to be super active in consoling Mari, anyway.

Mari nodded. "It was about when I fell down the stairs, and instead of you catching me, I... I... I was just so scared, Sunny."

Sunny laid down, and Mari did too. "I'm sorry, Sunny. I know you don't like to see me like this."

"It's okay," Sunny answered. He wasn't angry with his sister. In fact, he was a little happy she was being honest with him. "I love you, Mari."

Tears welled in Mari's eyes. "I love you too, Sunny. So, so much. I promise I'll never leave you. I promise."

"I know," Sunny said.

Mari cried into her little brother's shoulder, but didn't say anything else. After a while, she fell asleep. This time, no night terror woke her up.


	6. Other Kel.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Aubrey? What are you doing?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for all your kind words. I sincerely appreciate them. Omori, in a span of only a few days, has worked a special place in my heart, and I sincerely love the game so much.
> 
> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF DEATH AND SUICIDE! PLEASE CONTINUE ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Hero was closed off again. Kel couldn't get him to say anything. He thought things might have wound up different. He thought Sunny was finally going to come out for good. He thought everyone was going to be friends again.

He couldn't have been more naïve.

Sunny had taken his life mere minutes after waking up at the hospital. Kel and Hero tried to keep an eye on Basil after he found out, but it didn't work. Basil poisoned himself with herbicide the moment the brothers took their eyes off of him. It was like the people around Kel couldn't help but kill themselves.

Kel sighed and picked up his phone. Even though things had gotten really bad, Aubrey was actually speaking to him this time. In light of Basil and Sunny's passing, Kel had been spending more time with Aubrey to make sure she was going to be okay. He was surprised she was actually letting him. His eyes lit up when he saw a text from her. Though the situation sucked, spending more time with Aubrey was really helping him.

"Meet me at the part of Route 20 that runs through town" was all it said. It was a weird place to meet up, but Kel didn't mind. He didn't have anything better to do, anyway. Maybe she wanted to do the thing where they would count colored cars and whoever got the most in their color won.

"Mom!" he shouted through the house. "I'm gonna go visit Aubrey, okay?"

"Alright, sweetie," his mom called back. "Tell her I said hello, okay? I'm worried about her."

Kel slipped his shoes on and walked outside of the house, heading down the sidewalk to the point where sidewalk turned into bare grass, and U.S. 20 melded into the outskirts of town. It was the longest road in the country, actually. Kel hadn't looked at it very often, but when he did he liked to imagine that it stretched into the oceans, too.

He walked past all of Faraway Town's idyllic houses, wishing that his childhood home hadn't been tainted by memories of what happened to his friends. He had _watched_ Basil die with his own two eyes. None of Hero's medical school training had been able to prevent it. Ever since Basil died in his arms, Hero just hadn't been the same. It was even worse than when Mari died. Hero screamed in his sleep.

The sun beat down on Kel like it was practically begging him to go home. Not that he would have if it had begged him. Aubrey was waiting. Kel knew, that to prevent anything else from happening, he had to keep everyone together.

"Whatever it takes," he mumbled to himself.

Then, he saw Aubrey staring at the road. She had a dull look in her eye, the same look Sunny and Basil had had in their eyes. Kel had seen this look before.

No. There was no way. Aubrey would never do that.

"Hey, Aubrey!" Kel said, waving.

She barely turned to look at him. "Stop right there, Kel," she said, tears forming in her eyes. Cars and trucks of all kinds swooshed by them.

Kel had seen this look before.

"Aubrey?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"I can't do this anymore, Kel. I can't pretend I'm fine living like this anymore," Aubrey said, her tears falling. "I'm broken, Kel. What am I supposed to do?"

Kel had seen this look before.

Aubrey _would_ do that. She was about to, and she expected Kel to watch. But Kel also knew it was a cry for help. He needed to say something. _Do_ something. Anything. Whatever it took to stop her from walking into that road.

"Aubrey," Kel said, taking a step forward. "Listen to me."

Kel's heart was beating out if his chest. All he could see was the look in Aubrey's eyes. It terrified him. He didn't want to lose another friend. He couldn't bear it.

"Stop right there!" Aubrey said. "I'll do it!"

Kel stopped. "Okay. Okay." Kel didn't know what to do. He had no idea what to do. Should he just run at her and hope for the best? Should he try to talk her down? Kel was scared. Was this how Sunny had felt when he found Mari dead? "Hey, Aubrey. I'm right here, okay? I'm not going to leave you. I'll stay as long as you need me."

Aubrey shook her head. "They all left us, Kel. They left. They didn't even think about how we would feel."

"I know, Aubrey. I'm hurt too. Please, just step away from the road," Kel pleaded. "I can't lose anyone else."

Kel saw a semi truck coming from the direction he was facing. He needed to distract her. If she saw the truck it was game over. "Mari wouldn't want this, neither would Sunny or Basil. They would just want us to be happy."

"They didn't give a shit if we were happy!" Aubrey yelled. She faced Kel for the first time. Tears were streaming down her face. Her eyes were bloodshot. "If they did, why didn't they stay?

The truck passed by, messing up Aubrey's hair with the gust of wind it created. Kel silently let out a breath of relief. "Aubrey..." he realized that in distracting her, he had painted himself into a corner. If another truck came, he didn't know if he would be able to stop her. "Aubrey, come on. Let's just go home. We can put all of this behind us. We can go to Gino's. We can buy candy at the store. We can hang out at our old spot in the park. Please, Aubrey. I can't lose you too."

"I'm sorry, Kel," Aubrey said. "Tell Hero I'm sorry too, okay?"

Kel had seen that look before. She wasn't focused on him. She was focused on something behind him.

She stepped into the road.

* * *

Hero hadn't even bothered showing up to Aubrey's funeral. Kel understood. Hero had been to far too many of them.

Kel had been to that many, though, but he never stopped. It was the least he could do. He promised to keep living, even if it was only to honor everyone's memories. Hero would snap out of it too, eventually. He knew it. Everything was going to be okay.

Aubrey's mother was there, but she just stared blankly forward. She was probably high. Kel hated her. If she had been more supportive, been a better mother, Aubrey would still have still been alive. Aubrey's father hadn't bothered to show up. He hated him. If he had been there when Aubrey needed him the most, she would still have been alive.

The funeral was closed casket. After what had happened to Aubrey, the corpse had been too brutalized to be recognizable. Kel had only recognized it at the time because of the strands of pink hair that framed the body before the ambulance showed up to put it in a bag.

Kel didn't understand. Why did he have to keep coming to these? Why did he have to keep seeing his mother and father sob as another child they practically saw as their own killed themselves? Was it something he did? Kel just wanted to help. He just wanted everyone to be happy. Was it too much to ask?

The pastor was saying something, but he didn't understand what it was. Kel didn't understand anything anymore. The days flew by like planes leaving cloudy streaks in the sky. Kel hadn't even cried like he did during Sunny and Basil's funeral. He didn't feel anything, but he also felt worse than anyone could have possibly ever known. Kel had kept checking back through his and Aubrey's messages, searching for something, _anything_ that would shine some light on why she did what she did. Kel had thought things were going to get better.

Who was next? Who else would the world take away from him? His little sister? His parents? Hero?

Kel couldn't handle anymore death. He was tired of funerals. He was tired of people dying. He was tired of sermons, of people saying, "I'm so sorry for your loss." He was tired of the coffins, and headstones, and black dresses, and crying women. Most of all, he was angry that no one seemed to be surprised. Not even himself. It was "just another suicide" at this point. He hated everything. Why did this keep happening to him?

As he always said, "One death is a tragedy. More than one is a statistic."

If Aubrey had been around, she would have smacked him and said, "You never say that, you moron."

It didn't matter. What Aubrey thought about his sayings didn't matter anymore.

Before he knew it, the funeral was over, and everyone was walking out of the pews except for his family and Aubrey's mother. Kel's parents stood up. "I think I should have a word with Aubrey's mother, sweetie," his mother said. "You and your father head on home."

Kel and his father walked outside of the church into the sunlight. It hurt Kel's eyes.

"Kel... I..." his father started. "I'm sorry. I know this must be hard for you. It'll get better. I promise."

Kel didn't answer. He couldn't. He didn't have anything to say. He never did, in a way. Nothing he said ever seemed to stop anyone.

They walked past Sunny's old house, now empty and probably haunted, and into their own. Hero was out of his room, much to Kel's surprise.

Then, he saw his brother's face. Kel had seen that look before.

* * *

Kel stared down into the lake. Everyone was gone. Everything he had ever loved was destroyed. Torn apart.

What was the point? He made promises to people who couldn't even keep their own. He promised Sunny and Basil they would be friends again. He promised Aubrey he would always be there for her. He promised Hero that they didn't need to run anymore.

Kel saw his reflection staring back at him.

Kel had seen that look before.

* * *

"Hero!" Kel shouted. "Come on! It's my birthday! We have to go get everything done so we have time to see everyone!"

Hero yawned and walked down the stairs sleepily. Normally, he would have been the first awake of the two brothers, but Kel wanted to milk every ounce of birthday he could possibly manage. "Kel we still have to go to school today," Hero said. "We only get to party after."

"No!" Kel yelled, holding the sides of his head like he was in pain and crouching onto the ground. "I forgot about school! How cruel can this world get?"

"Quit being so dramatic," Hero said. "Help me make breakfast."

A knock on the door came just in time. It must have been Sunny and Mari coming to say happy birthday. "Look at that!" Kel said, deflecting his older brother's request. "I guess I need to go answer the door."

Hero rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen, not really caring whether or not Kel helped him with breakfast.

Kel rushed to the door, eager to find out who it was. He opened it up, and Sunny and Mari were smiling. Only, Mari looked really tired. That was lame. Kel didn't want her falling asleep on his birthday. "Hi Kel," Mari said. "Happy birthday!"

Mari wheeled in and gave Kel a hug. "You've gotten so big! Soon enough, you'll be even taller than Hero."

"Really? You think so?" Kel asked. He had always wanted to be taller than Hero. Now, since even Mari was saying it, it must have been an inevitability of life. Like taxes, or something.

Sunny walked in behind Mari and held his hand up for a high-five. Kel slapped the waiting hand readily. "Yeah!" Kel cheered. "Birthday high-five!"

Kel grabbed Sunny's hand and ran into the kitchen, where Hero was frying eggs. "Look, Hero! Sunny and Mari are here!" He placed his chin in the groove between his thumb and forefinger, smirking condescendingly. "How does it feel to know you're going to be the littler brother soon, Hero? I bet it feels pretty bad, huh?"

"Just terrible," Hero said sarcastically, not turning his attention away from the eggs. "I'm in the worst agony imaginable."

"Ha! I knew it!" Kel said.

Mari wheeled in and watched Hero cook. Kel watched her as her eyebrow twitched when Hero messed up flipping an egg on the first try. Watching Mari watch Hero cook was always funny, because she knew that while Hero knew how to do it better than she did, she always looked like she wanted to correct something he did. Mari was a weird bundle of contradictions, but Kel was pretty sure he was the only person who noticed it.

"Who are you making breakfast for, Hero?" Mari asked. "I hope you've got enough for me and Sunny too."

Hero laughed, calling her bluff. "I know you two ate at home. You people wake up even earlier than I do. You're crazy. If you didn't want to watch Kel and I eat, you shouldn't have showed up."

Sunny patted Mari on the back. "One day, Mari. One day."

Mari stuck out her tongue at Hero, who still wasn't facing their direction. "That's mean, Hero," Mari teased. "I thought we were friends."

"Not good enough friends to sacrifice the last four eggs to you on _Kel's_ birthday," Hero answered. "Maybe on March 1st I can make you two breakfasts."

"Really?" Mari's entire demeanor changed. "Okay, then! It's a promise!"

Hero put a plate down in front of Kel and took a bite out of a slice of an egg sandwich with cheese on it. How he had managed to find time to make four eggs, cook toast, and butter that toast in the short time Kel was answering the door for Mari and Sunny, Kel had no idea. His brother was a superhuman like that.

Kel ate the three eggs on his plate incredibly quickly. He wanted to get the school day over with quickly so he could spend the rest of his birthday in peace. He grabbed Sunny by the hand again, pulling him along to the door, where he slipped on his shoes. "We're headed out, guys!" he called. "We'll see you at school!"

Kel pulled Sunny along behind him as he rushed to get to school. They weren't even late, Kel was just bouncing with the energy of a drunk hare spiked on Mountain Dew. He needed to be done with the school day as quickly as possible. His birthday depended on it.


	7. Birthday.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Kel's birthday.
> 
> What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF DEATH AND SUICIDE! CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK

"Class dismissed."

Kel stood up and shouted, "Woohoo! Birthday time!"

He quickly gathered up his things and rushed around the classroom, collecting Sunny, Aubrey, and Basil before they went back home. Then, Basil just _had_ to remind him.

"Kel," he said. "Don't you and Hero have to run some errands today?"

"No!" he said, holding the sides of his head like he was in pain and crouching to the ground, just like he did earlier in the morning. "Curse these errands! I forgot! How cruel can this universe get?"

"Get up!" Aubrey commanded, whacking him with a notebook. "You're being overdramatic!"

Wait. Something clicked in his head. Errands to run with Hero? Why did _Basil_ know about _Kel's_ errands? Something smelled fishy. This smelled like a surprise party. Kel wagered that Hero and Mari had gotten Basil to remind Kel that he had errands to run so the others would have time to set up before Kel got home. It was very crafty.

Kel decided not to say anything about it, though he had one hundred percent certainty in his guess. He stood up, still mocking depression. "But it's my birthday," he whined. "I shouldn't have to go run errands on my birthday!"

Sunny touched Kel's shoulder and gave his friend a reassuring look. Sunny knew that Kel knew about the party. He was too observant not to notice. Kel stood up, and the friends looked into each other's faces, opening up nonverbal communication lines.

 _"You've figured it out, haven't you?"_ Sunny asked, his expression not betraying his intentions to his friends.

 _"You people think you're smart,"_ Kel responded. _"I have you all figured out."_

 _"Act surprised. Mari's been planning this for weeks,"_ Sunny requested.

Kel nodded firmly, his friend's dedication to his sister's happiness entirely admirable and extremely touching. Tears almost fell out of Kel's eyes from sheer wholesomeness. "Of course, my friend. Anything for you," he said out loud, placing his hand on Sunny's shoulder and causing the boy to give him a confused look.

"Well then," Kel said, taking his leave. "I think it's going to take us about an hour to get everything done," he generously gave them their timeframe. "I sure hope I'll be able to party once Hero and I are done with our errands."

* * *

Kel didn't suspect a thing. He was too dense. Sunny harkened back to his and Kel's nonverbal chat.

 _"I'm sorry you have to run errands,"_ Sunny had said, secretly knowing it was by design.

 _"You guys didn't forget about my birthday, did you?"_ Kel had asked. Sunny felt evil rise up in his soul. This was exactly what Mari had wanted.

 _"Of course we forgot,"_ Sunny answered, knowing he wasn't going to lose any sleep over it. This was for the greater good.

Then, Kel had put his hand on Sunny's shoulder and really confused him, but he didn't think much of it. Kel was always saying weird things. As soon as Kel walked out of the room and down the hallway, Aubrey had grabbed his hand and said, "Let's go guys! We need to meet up with Mari and get back to Kel's house! We don't have much time!"

Sunny and Basil chased after Aubrey as she ran to the high school side of the school, where Mari was waiting outside the bottom floor's elevator. "Hey guys!" she greeted, smiling and waving. Mari might have been even more excited for Kel's birthday than Kel himself. Sunny refused to let her planning go to waste.

Mari wheeled herself down the hallway as quickly as she could manage without endangering herself, and they managed to make it back to Kel and Hero's house in less than fifteen minutes. It was a good time. Kel and Hero's parents stood waiting inside the door, grocery bags of party decorations sitting on the floor. "We've got everything you asked for Mari," Kel's father said, his eyes sparkling. He respected Mari strongly as his co-conspirator. "Now we just need to set it up."

"Thank you so much!" Mari said. She looked really happy. After her nightmare the previous night, Sunny was just glad to know she was doing better.

The kids went to work, Aubrey taking the lead pinning up streamers, Basil doing his best to organize the big "Happy Birthday" banner despite the fact that he was too short and Aubrey was using the ladder, and Sunny set the table with party hats and birthday-themed plates. Kel's parents had also bought a cake and ice cream, which were sitting and hiding in the kitchen cabinet and in the freezer, respectively. Sunny was excited.

Sunny's father and Mari were conspiring while everyone else worked. "When are you going to go get the pizzas?" Mari asked.

"I was just about to go. The errands I sent the boys on should take about an hour, especially with Kel rushing them to get back home, so I knew I needed to get them soon. They're going to be here in mere minutes."

"Good," Mari praised. Kel's father smiled brightly. "I thought so too after everything Hero told me," Mari continued, "but just make sure Hero and Kel don't see you going to Gino's."

"I'll be careful," Kel's father said. "I've been alive for over four decades. You don't think I haven't learned how to be sneaky?"

Kel's dad grabbed his keys and jogged out the door, and Sunny saw his car slip out of the driveway and head towards the plaza.

Suddenly, Sunny heard a crash, and he saw Aubrey sprawled out on the floor at the base of the ladder, rubbing her head and wincing. "Ow!" she said. "That hurt!"

Mari wheeled over quickly. "Are you okay, Aubrey? I asked you to be careful."

"I'm fine," Aubrey said, sitting up. "My foot just slipped when I was getting down. The ladder's all yours now, Basil."

"Thanks, Aubrey!" Basil replied, still jumping up and trying to hang up the banner. "Can you bring me the ladder, Sunny?"

Sunny nodded, though he didn't think Basil saw him. Sunny scooched the ladder over to where Basil was standing, making sure to make it so Basil would be able to reach the house's interior archway when he climbed up on it. "Thanks, Sunny," Basil said, still focused on the banner.

Mari went back to the kitchen, making sure everything was in order for Kel and Hero's arrival. Sunny helped Aubrey stuff a basketball-shaped piñata with candy and hoist it to the ceiling, where it would dangle until Kel bashed it in. Everything was going perfectly. Aubrey and Sunny smiled at each other, and Sunny felt his heart flutter a little bit. He thought Aubrey was cool.

Basil finally managed to get the banner hung up, and he came down to admire everybody's work. Red and blue streamers were up all over the house, and the kitchen was decked out with every kind of birthday paraphernalia imaginable. Mari rolled into the living room. "Alright guys!" Everyone's attention turned towards her. "Great job! I'm sure Kel is going to love it."

Sunny was happy Mari was having a good time. She loved these kinds of things. Aubrey shuffled nervously, looking at the clock. "When are we hiding? Shouldn't Kel and Hero get here any minute?"

"Once their father gets back, we'll all hide. Until then, let's do a quick scan of every room to make sure everything is ready, okay?"

They went through all the rooms again, but there wasn't anything wrong that any of them could see. If there were flaws in the setup, they escaped even Mari's careful eye. The festive mood that now permeated through the house's interior was almost as palpable as it was infectious. Sunny was excited, especially when he saw the bright, carefree looks in everyone's eyes. Even Mari had managed to cut loose, as much as Mari could. She had stressed herself out planning the party, but she was finally relaxing a bit.

Kel's father burst through the door and set the pizzas on the kitchen counter. "They're walking home right now! They're in the plaza! They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Everyone, hide!" Mari said, rolling her wheelchair behind the corner into the kitchen.

Aubrey and Sunny ducked behind the couch, and Basil hid in the curtain. Kel's father stood around the corner of the doorway, just out of sight for when Kel and Hero walked in. Sunny looked at Aubrey, taking note of the excitement that was causing her to shake. Aubrey peeked over the couch. "Do you think Kel's going to like it?" she whispered.

Sunny nodded. Everyone worked really hard to put it together. There was no way Kel wouldn't like it. At the very least, even if Kel didn't appreciate the effort everyone put into it, Sunny knew he would appreciate the cake and ice cream hiding in the fridge. Kel was easy to please.

* * *

"Come on, Hero," Kel complained. "We should go get everyone else. It's my birthday! Come on!"

"You know what mom said," Hero reminded him. "We need to go home and talk to her before we do anything. _Then_ we can party for the rest of the night.

Kel was about to lose his mind. It had been an hour since he left school, but he still wasn't anywhere closer to partying. The thought of a surprise party had been completely eliminated from his brain, overtaken by the bland monotony of everyday tasks. His birthday was being treated just like any other day. He hoped his friends hadn't forgotten.

Was he going to get to Sunny's house to find out that they had forgotten about his birthday entirely? The thought stung his poor thirteen-year-old soul. He didn't know what he would do if he didn't have a celebration. He would probably sulk for the rest of the day, if he had to. No forgiveness would be granted to anyone who forgot his birthday. At least, that's what he told himself.

Hero opened the door to their house. "Go on in."

Kel shuffled past him, wondering why the light was off. Was mom not home? If she wasn't, how long was she going to be? He just wanted to spend time with his friends.

Then he saw it. A foot sticking out of the corner behind the kitchen. It looked like...

Was that Mari's shoe?

Suddenly, the lights turned on, and everyone sprang out at him and yelled, "SURPRISE!"

Kel yelped, and Aubrey pointed and laughed at him. Mari wheeled towards him. 'Happy birthday, Kel!" she said, giving him another hug just like the one he had received in the morning. "Sorry we had to keep you in the dark, it's not a surprise if you find out about it."

Kel felt tears well in his eyes. "You guys... You remembered after all."

Hero laughed. "Yeah, we did. How could we forget? You've been talking about it for weeks now."

Kel refused to let himself cry at a time like this, no matter how happy he was. He held back his tears, just as Sunny and Basil came up to give him a hug. "Happy birthday, Kel," Basil said. Sunny nodded in agreement. Kel remembered the nonverbal conversation he and Sunny had had earlier and facepalmed. How had he forgotten? Sunny literally _told_ him that there was going to be a surprise party. Kel felt like he was the idiot for forgetting what Sunny had told him.

He _did_ keep his promise to act surprised, though, even if it wasn't actually an act. Kel was pleased with his performance as Sunny's friend. Another day, another strengthened bond.

He saw all the streamers hanging up, the pizza on the table, even the cake sitting on the counter in the kitchen. What really held his interest was the giant basketball hanging from the ceiling.

"Is that-" he said, pointing.

"Yes, it is," Kel's father said. "It was your mom's idea. She'll be home in a about half an hour, but she said not to wait on her. Let's get this party started!"

A cheer rose up through the room, and they all crowded into the kitchen. Basil took out his camera and snapped a photo.

Kel was happy. This was going to be a good birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sike.


	8. Four years later.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hey Sunny! It's me, Mari. I'm finally back home, but I forgot my keys. Could you open the door for me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF DEATH. PLEASE CONTINUE ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK!
> 
> I'm not bamboozling anyone this time. Continue at your own risk.

_Four years later._

"That's mean, Sunny. You can't just say things like that, even if it's Kel and he said something stupid first," Aubrey's reprimand fell on deaf ears. Sunny was angry. He heard Aubrey sigh. "I know what you're thinking: 'Wow, Aubrey's one to talk,' but it's different between me and Kel. You know that. We've always been that way, and both of us understand that. But you and Kel don't have that kind of relationship. You've never been angry with him before, and now he probably just feels miserable."

In recent years, due to Mari's increased absence due to college taking up more and more of her time, Sunny and Aubrey had gotten a lot closer. Hero and Mari were gone, but they were going to come back soon. Sunny missed his sister a lot, but growing up and learning more about the world opened him up a lot more. He was still quiet, but he let other people privy to his inner thoughts far more often.

"I'm not sorry, Aubrey. He deserved it," Sunny replied.

He knew that Aubrey was probably pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "You don't have to be sorry, Sunny," Aubrey said, easing his concerns that she was going to try and get him to apologize. "But you do need to do something. He's just disappointed and sad. I know he didn't mean to lash out at you."

Sunny took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Kel had said exactly the right things he needed to to push Sunny's buttons, and Sunny had retorted with a verbal tirade worse than the one Mari had unleashed on him four years ago. Poor Kel had run away sobbing. Sunny wasn't easy to make angry, but Kel had managed it. "You sound like Mari," Sunny said.

"It's easy for me to advise you to make amends when I'm not the one he ticked off this time," Aubrey replied. "Speaking of Mari, why aren't you talking to her about this? She would probably give you better advice than I would."

Mari was coming home in less than a week. He didn't want to bother her with a fight before she came home. Sunny was sure it would all be settled before she got back, so he didn't see the point in worrying her about it. Plus, he hadn't considered talking to Mari about it until he already had Aubrey on the line. For a little while, Aubrey had been the first person he wanted to come to with his problems. "I wanted to talk to you about it," Sunny said. "I tell you just about everything these days, so..."

Sunny's voice trailed off. On the other end of the line, he heard an excited squeal, like a guinea pig had successfully escaped from its cage. "Well, anyway," Aubrey said, sounding a little aloof, "just make up with him. I'm sure he's sorry, so if he apologizes, you guys can just go back to normal."

Sunny heard a knock on the front door. "I have to go. Someone's here. Bye, Aubrey."

"Talk to you later, Sunny," Aubrey replied. "Don't forget what I said, okay?"

Sunny hung up and left his room, walking down the stairs to the front door. He traced his fingers along Mari's lift, realizing again how much he missed his sister. She had been calling every once and a while, though, so they had kept in touch. She seemed really happy at college. She was studying to be a therapist. It was a very fitting career choice for Mari, Sunny thought. If anyone had the capability of helping people with their issues, it was Mari.

As he got closer to the door, the knocking seemed to pick up in speed and intensity. Who was knocking, and why were they doing it over and over again?

As Sunny was just about to open the door, a voice on the other side spoke. "Hey Sunny! It's me, Mari. I'm finally back home, but I forgot my keys. Could you open the door for me?"

What? Mari? She wasn't supposed to be back until later that week. What was she doing here? Did she really forget her-

No, that didn't make any sense. Mari didn't forget, and she definitely couldn't have forgotten her keys. She had to drive to get back from college. Plus, Mari never forgot anything. She had kept a detailed list of everything she needed to pack and take with her when she left for college, and he seriously doubted she wouldn't have done the same thing coming back. And if it really was her, why hadn't he been told about it? If it was supposed to be a secret, then his mother would have let it slip sometime. He and Mari always joked that if you wanted everyone to know about something, tell her that you're keeping it a secret.

It _did_ sound like Mari though. The warmth in her voice, the excitement of finally being back home. It was all there. Why wouldn't it have been Mari? Sunny decided he could ask her once she was inside.

Sunny gently opened the door, and then-

He yelped and closed it again quickly, taking several steps backward away from the door. What was that? That wasn't Mari. It was... some kind of monster.

Sunny shook his head. Monsters don't exist. He was just seeing things. Mari was probably sitting out there in shock wondering why he slammed the door in her face. Sunny grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. "Sorry, Mari, I thought I-"

No one was there. It was just the chilly night and yellow streetlights shining onto the sidewalk. Sunny leaned outside, looking in both directions for someone who might have wandered off. Mari couldn't have gone around back. She couldn't jump the fence to get in through the screen door.

Was Sunny hearing things too? This was odd. The words of the nightmare he had remembered from all the time ago flashed back into his mind. _"What did you do, Sunny?"_

He didn't know why he was thinking about the strange boy's words now, but he decided it wasn't worth it. He sighed. It was easily still early enough to visit Kel, even though it was night out. His mother and father wouldn't be back until later. Put his shoes on, then walked outside to head over to Kel's house.

Kel's words flashed through his mind. _"You wouldn't understand. You've never tried to do anything."_

What he had said hurt Sunny because it wasn't true. Sunny tried to make sure everyone was happy. Sunny tried to be more open so Aubrey didn't have to wonder what he was thinking all the time. Sunny tried to not be lonely without his sister. Sunny tried to be a good listener to his friends. Kel had ignored all of that.

Sunny was standing at Kel's doorstep. He raised his hand to knock, but the door opened before he could. It was Kel. "Sunny?" he asked. His eyes were read from crying. "That's funny, actually. I was just about to visit you."

* * *

Kel plopped down on his bed. "I'm sorry, Sunny. I shouldn't have said those things. It was stupid, and I just did it because I was upset. I didn't mean it."

Sunny didn't respond.

"Silent treatment, huh?" Kel said. "I guess I deserve it. You've already unloaded everything on me, anyway. You talked to Aubrey about it, didn't you?"

Sunny nodded.

"I thought you would. I wouldn't have wanted to bother Mari about it either," Kel admitted.

Sunny walked into the room and sat on Hero's bed. Hero's half of the room had awards all over it, but Kel's was filled with sports stuff. If anything made the dichotomy between the two brothers obvious, it was their shared space.

Kel sat up and looked at Sunny again, rubbing the back of his head. "I hope you can forgive me, Sunny. I really didn't mean what I said."

Kel's bedsheet suddenly shifted from the weight Kel was putting on the side of the bed, and it dumped him onto the ground. He was about to stand up, but his vision focused on something underneath Hero's bed. "What is that?" Kel said, crawling towards it and reaching out for it.

He pulled out an old blank blue lunchbox locked with buckles. "I've never seen this before..." Kel said. "Did Hero ever use this?"

Sunny hopped off of the bed to get a closer look. Sitting on the floor next to Kel, he suggested, "Open it up. If it's full of journal entries or something we'll just pretend we never saw it."

"I like the way you think, Sunny." Kel was always a snooper. Some things just never changed. Kel undid the buckles keeping the lunchbox shut and opened it up, revealing a bunch of old notebook paper. Kel reached in and grabbed one. "What in the world?"

He opened it up, revealing an old, written down dream. It was in Kel's sloppy handwriting, only the lead of the pencil had rubbed off on the folded paper. "Wait, I remember these. These are from when Aubrey, Hero, and I had bad dreams that one time, remember? I thought they threw them out."

"I guess they didn't," Sunny responded. He had never got the chance to read them. Mari was the only one who had the full picture.

Time seemed to slow down. Sunny heard a voice.

_Do you want to find out what happened?_

Sunny reached into the box and grabbed one. It was Aubrey's, and it had flowers and sparkles drawn all over it. "Do you think we should call Aubrey?" Sunny asked. "She has something in this box, too."

"Yeah, I guess. I don't see why not. She probably won't care," Kel answered.

Sunny left the room and dialed Aubrey's number on Kel's house phone. Aubrey answered, "What is it, Kel?"

"It's actually Sunny," Sunny replied.

"Oh," Aubrey said, caught off guard. "Did you make up with him then?"

"Yes. We're looking through Hero's stuff and we need you to come here."

"What? Why are you looking through Hero's stuff?" Aubrey asked, incredulous. "He's at college! That's kind of rude!"

"We found those old dream papers from four years ago. We want you to read them with us."

"Hero kept those? I thought they tossed them. I barely remember what my dream had in it, actually," Aubrey said, slightly confused. "Alright. Don't do anything until I get there, okay?"

Aubrey hung up, and Sunny walked back into Kel's room. "She's on her way. She asked for us not to read them until she got here."

Kel guiltily put his paper back into the box. "Whoops. I hope she doesn't mind that I read mine..."

Sunny hopped up on Kel's bed and sat down to wait. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

"Now that I think about it," Aubrey said, "I think this is the first time I've ever been in your room, Kel."

"Really?" Kel said, scratching his head. "We've known each other for so long, though."

Aubrey grabbed a paper out of the lunchbox. "I can't believe it's been so long. Looking back on it, the dream I had was kind of morbid, in a way."

Aubrey opened up the paper and looked it over. "Yep, this one's mine, alright. It's got everything down to the finest detail."

Sunny reached in and grabbed Hero's out of the box. He had been curious about the dreams when they first came up four years ago, but he had forgotten about them since. Now, it was like all four years of ignored curiosity was welling up within him. He opened up the paper and read it out loud:

"It was in red room, and all of my trophies were surrounding me. In front of me, an older version of myself - he looked to be about twenty - stood. At least, I thought it was me. He had some kind of shadow obscuring his body, like I had to be prevented from seeing it for some reason.

"He said something, but when he spoke, it came out raspy, like someone who had been smoking for a long time. It sounded like talking was causing him pain. 'You still have them, don't you?' the other me asked. I was confused.

"'What do you mean?' I replied, not understanding. I looked around some more, and noticed that there was a fine black powder all over everything, even the other me.

"The other me walked towards me and placed his hands on my shoulders, leaving a black residue on my clothing. The closer he got to me, the hotter it seemed to get in the room. 'Don't run from them, Hero. That was my greatest mistake. I won't let you lose them too.'

"Then, it felt like the floor was falling out from under me, and I just kept falling. I felt something strangling me, like there was something wrapped around my throat. I stopped suddenly, and then I woke up."

Kel rubbed his chin. "That one was a lot different from mine."

"Mine too," Aubrey said.

An uneasy silence settled over the room. No one wanted to be the one to break it. They were all thinking about Hero's dream. What did it mean? Aubrey scanned over the transcript of her dream and raised a concerned eyebrow. "In my dream, the version of me that was in it looked about sixteen. In Hero's dream, the older version of him looked twenty. Hero was sixteen four years ago, and the rest of us were twelve."

Sunny could see what Aubrey was getting at. If whatever happened in the dreams came true, then it would likely happen soon. Kel stuffed the transcript back into the lunchbox. "Okay. If anything weird happens, the people in this room will be the first ones to know, okay? I'm not really sure I want to know what your dream had, Aubrey."

"I'm not sure I want to share," Aubrey said, rubbing her arm. "After hearing that, I'm not sure it was something we were supposed to read..."

* * *

Kel was by route 20, the longest road in the country. It was broad daylight, and the sun beat on him like it was trying to kill him. Why was he here?

He looked around, and he saw a pink-haired girl looking at the road. Kel couldn't see her face, as her hair obscured it completely from view. "Excuse me," he said, walking closer to her.

She didn't say anything. As he got closer, he felt some kind of force stopping him from looking at her face. He waved his hand in front of her, trying to get her attention. "Hello? Anybody in there?" he asked.

Was this a dream? It felt unusually real for a dream. The last thing he remembered was Aubrey and Sunny leaving before he accidentally fell asleep. They had just finished looking at all of the old dreams they had written down four years ago.

He heard a voice behind him. "This was the moment of your greatest failure, Kel."

Kel jumped. He turned around and saw a black-and-white version of Sunny, but he looked a lot younger than Sunny was supposed to. The monochrome coloring of the boy contrasted with the bright colors of the surrounding field. Seeing the boy, Kel felt disturbed. That couldn't have been Sunny. Something was wrong. "Who are you?" he asked.

" **Omori** ," the boy said. "Sunny rejected me. I haven't been able to do what I need to do. He didn't need me."

"What are you talking about?" Kel asked.

"Take a look," **Omori** said. He pointed at the pink haired girl, who turned to look at Kel.

Kel didn't understand. It was Aubrey. What was she doing here?

"I thought maybe, if Sunny didn't need me, I could find someone else instead," **Omori** said. "But everything was going too well. I needed to create a situation where someone needed me."

Aubrey's eyes suddenly went wide, and she looked around frantically, confused. "Where am I? Kel? Is that you?"

Kel watched as trucks zoomed past him and Aubrey on the road. What was happening? Aubrey's lower body stood as stiff as a rock, but her head moved around, terrified. "Kel? I can't move. What's going on?"

"I couldn't hurt Mari, though she feels the guiltiest out of all of you," **Omori** said. "So, I eventually decided that one of you would make the best candidate. But neither of you needed me, either. What could I do to make you need me? Then, it all clicked. The first time, someone got hurt, and it was Sunny's fault. All I need to do is make something like that happen again."

"What?" Aubrey and Kel asked in unison. What was he talking about? This was all just a dream. What could he possibly do?

Then, Aubrey's body took a step toward the road. "This was the moment of your greatest failure, Kel. Your failure to save Aubrey was worse than Sunny killing Mari, worse than Basil helping him cover it up, worse than -" **Omori** winced, "what Hero did. It was even worse than killing yourself. If I can recreate that, and get you to acknowledge that it was your fault, someone might need me again. Things can go back to the way they are supposed to be."

What? None of those things ever happened. Mari was alive. Aubrey wasn't dead either. What was **Omori** talking about?

Aubrey took another step toward the road. Then another. A truck whooshed right by her. "Kel!" she shouted helplessly. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Stop!" Kel shouted. "You'll kill her!"

 **Omori** 's expression didn't change at all. "That's the plan," he said callously. His tone of voice didn't even change while he was saying it.

This was all a dream. This wasn't happening. It was supposed to be a dream, but Kel knew what would happen if Aubrey stepped into that road.

She would never wake up.

Kel moved his body between Aubrey and the road, trying to get her to stop walking. It didn't work. He pushed with every ounce of strength he had in his body, but Aubrey kept moving forward.

Kel ran to where **Omori** was standing and grabbed him by the collar. "Let her go, you sick bastard!" he ordered.

 **Omori** stared at him curiously. "Sick?" he asked. "I don't understand what would make you think that about me, Kel. _You're_ the one who can't help Aubrey."

"That's pretty obvious!" Kel replied. He looked frantically over his shoulder, and his heart sank when he saw how close she was to the edge of the road. One more step, and she would be close enough for a truck to hit her.

"Kel!" Aubrey pleaded.

She stepped into the road.

* * *

Kel woke up with a jolt, sweat running down his face. "Aubrey..." he muttered.

"Aubrey!" He jumped out of bed and raced downstairs, slipping his shoes on and out of the door. He through the street, needing to get to Aubrey as quickly as possible. Was she okay? It had just been a dream, right? Nothing was wrong. It was just a dream. He was just being paranoid.

He got to her house, knocking on the door furiously. Trash littered her yard, just like it always did. Now that he thought about it, had he ever been inside of Aubrey's house?

No one answered his knocks. He twisted the doorknob desperately, and the door opened, much to his surprise. Aubrey's mother was staring blankly at a static-filled TV. He ran right by her and into the back of the house. He clambered up the ladder into the attic, where he saw Aubrey sleeping on her bed.

He ran over and shook her, trying to get her awake. "Aubrey!" he yelled, desperately shaking the girl. "Wake up! Please!"

Kel felt tears tugging at his eyes. No. Not like this. This wasn't happening. He heard a voice speak to him.

_It was your fault._

"No," Kel said. "She's fine."

Kel took out his phone and called an ambulance.

* * *

Everyone was gathered around the waiting room with worried expressions on their faces. Hero and Mari had come home a day early to be with everyone.

It had been seventeen hours, and Aubrey hadn't woken up. Kel hadn't slept a wink since his dream about **Omori**.

The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her body, so he ordered an MRI scan, but they were still waiting for a diagnosis to come back. Kel looked over to see Sunny sobbing into Mari's shoulder.

_This was your fault._

"Kel." He heard a distant voice calling his name, but he was lost in thought.

"Kel!" Someone grabbed his shoulder. He turned and saw Hero with a worried expression on his face. "Snap out of it."

"Oh. Hi, Hero."

"Are you okay, Kel? You seem shaken. Like, more than the rest of us shaken."

"Yeah," Kel said. "I... I just need to use the restroom."

Kel stood up and made his way down the hall into the guest bathroom. He felt like he was going to be sick. He stepped inside, the fluorescent lights turning on with his entrance. He turned on the sink, splashing water onto his face in an effort to regain his bearings. He looked at the mirror.

It was **Omori**. The boy smiled disgustingly, and Kel saw his shape change from a younger version of Sunny into a distorted, monochrome version of Kel.

"Everything can finally go back to normal," **Omori** said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Close your eyes, you'll be here soon._


	9. Omori?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ???

**Omori** was in pain. Nothing felt right. The bond he had forged with Kel wasn't working. Kel refused to believe he was at fault.

_Rest, Omori. Your purpose is null._

"Shut up!" **Omori** yelled. "I can't. I have to protect them."

_Who have you protected? Sunny? Aubrey? I thought you cared for them._

**Omori** placed his hands over his ears. "I do... I do... I just... I just want things to go back to the way they were."

The blank white room **Omori** was in had nothing in it. No laptop. No tissue box. No Mewo. No door. No way out. No way into the rest of Headspace, if that even existed anymore. **Omori** was lonely. He just wanted to see his friends.

_You are unnatural, Omori. A construct. You have no purpose in this world._

"I just want to see them. Is that too much to ask?" **Omori** said. "I didn't want to hurt anyone. I had to."

_Just like you had to push away the truth? Mari wouldn't have wanted this._

"You're dead. Stop meddling," **Omori** demanded. "Mari's alive, anyway."

_And you made her sad. Your very existence is contradictory._

"I'll find someone else. I'll do whatever it takes," **Omori** muttered.

_Stop this madness. It's too late. Your hold on this world is slipping. Rest._

"I never even saw them," **Omori** said. "I just want to see my friends."

_You still have time. Make peace while you still can._

"Leave me alone," **Omori** said, tears streaming down his face. "I can use this time to see them. If I can get someone to create a Headspace, I can see them."

_Headspace was made to contain pain that doesn't exist here. Mari is alive. Sunny is well. Basil has no shadow looming over him. Hero never ran away. Aubrey is still kind. Kel still has his friends. These people were never meant to have you. They were never meant to deal with an **Omori**._

Hero. Hero was the key. If **Omori** could get Hero to do _that_ again, everything would go back to normal.

_I know what you're thinking. It's not worth it._

"Are you going to stop me?" **Omori** asked.

_If I must._

* * *

Hero was stress-baking. He had made ten dozen cookies, and he kept going back to the store to get more ingredients. He couldn't take the uncertainty. He was worried about Aubrey, wondering if she would ever wake up. The doctors couldn't even figure out what was wrong with her. The MRI revealed that there was an abnormal amount of activity in Aubrey's parietal lobe, the region of the brain that controlled pain, touch, and understanding objects in relation to the body, but there was no indication on what the problem actually was.

"It's like her own brain is out of touch with reality," the doctor had said, 'like it doesn't know that her body is doing just fine. I've never seen anything like this before."

He pulled another sheet of cookies out of the oven and sighed. "What am I going to do with all of these?" he asked himself. His entire kitchen counter was covered with plates upon plates of cookies that he had no idea what to do with. His mother had encouraged him to take some over to Sunny and Mari, but he didn't want to leave Kel alone in the house. Something was really gnawing at him. Hero could tell.

Kel heard some footsteps outside of the kitchen. That was weird. Kel had locked himself away in their room since Aubrey fell into a coma, and his mother and father were at work. "Kel?" he called. "Is that you? Do you want some cookies?"

No response. "Guess he just wanted to get some fresh air," Hero muttered. Even if he didn't eat any cookies, Hero thought Kel at least leaving the house would be good for him. He was usually so positive, and normally Hero would count on him being the first person to comfort everyone else. Instead, Kel had shut himself away.

Hero sighed. He wanted to see Mari. Maybe he could get her to come over with Sunny? He knew they probably wanted the company, too.

Hero walked out of the kitchen, going for the phone. Sunny and Mari were likely at home, doing whatever they did when the others weren't there. Maybe they were playing a board game. Mari had always been good with cards, but she was terrible with dice. Sunny would probably crush her at just about anything they played.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number for Mari and Sunny's house phone. It rang a few times, then he heard a _CLICK!_ as someone picked it up. "Hello?" the male voice on the other end told him it was Sunny.

"Hey, Sunny. This is Hero. Are you and Mari busy?" Hero asked. "I baked a bunch of cookies, so I was wondering if you guys wanted to come over."

"We were playing RISK. Mari's losing," Sunny answered matter-of-factly.

Hero heard a voice call through the house. "I am not losing! I just haven't made my comeback yet, that's all!"

There was Mari's competitive streak. "Well, can you talk to her about stopping by?" Hero said. "Kel and I are free all day, so you can come whenever you guys feel like it."

"We'll be over soon. Mari only has Greenland and Iceland left. She's not very good at RISK," Sunny said, ruthlessly summarizing his sister's less-than-adequate strategy game skills.

"I see," Hero acknowledged. "Oh, by the way, has Kel dropped by? I thought he left the house but I didn't actually see him, so I might have just been hearing things."

"No, he hasn't come here."

"Alright. Well, I'll see you guys later."

"Bye."

Hero hung up the phone. Maybe Kel was still upstairs? He grabbed a plate of cookies from the counter and walked up the stairs to his room. He opened up the door to see Kel sleeping soundly in his bed, seemingly ignorant of the world around him. Hero put the cookies down and shook his brother awake. "Kel. Wake up. Mari and Sunny are coming over soon."

"They are?" Kel asked. "Why? It's the middle of the night on Thursday. Don't we have school tomorrow?"

"No, Kel. It's Saturday."

"What?" Kel sat up tiredly. "But I don't remember living through Thursday and Friday."

"How do you not? Aubrey..." Hero's voice trailed off. It hurt him to talk about.

"Aubrey what?" Kel asked. "Did something happen?"

Did Kel really not remember? That didn't make any sense. He was the one who found Aubrey in a coma. "Well, kind of," Hero muttered. "Aubrey fell into a coma, remember?"

"She did what?" Kel said, surprised. "How? Did she get hurt? What happened?" Kel shot up and grabbed a cookie off of the plate. "I have to go see her!"

"Kel, we've already visited her today. You said you didn't want to see her."

"I did?" Kel exclaimed. It was like everything that had happened in the past two days was completely erased from his memory. "I don't remember any of that."

Was Kel blocking something out of his memories? Did he really just not remember anything that happened? Aubrey going into a coma was a really important thing to forget. Hero didn't understand why Kel of all people didn't remember.

"Once Mari and Sunny come over, I guess we can visit Aubrey. I was really hoping to get rid of all the cookies I baked, though..." Hero felt anxious about the cookies. He didn't want them to go stale.

"How many did you bake? Is this not all of them?" Kel took a bite out of the cookie in his hand.

"Ten dozen, and I still have more dough," Hero admitted. "I was baking to get my mind off of things, so I just kept making more, and before I knew it there were too many for me to keep to myself."

Kel laughed. "Classic Hero. I wouldn't expect anything less from you!"

A knock on the door ended the brothers' conversation. "That must be Sunny and Mari," Hero said. "I'll go open the door for them. Can you take that plate of cookies back to the kitchen?"

"Sure," Kel said, his mouth full. He had somehow already eaten three.

Hero walked down the steps and went to the front door, opening it up. Mari and Sunny were waiting, and Mari had her arms crossed in a grumpy fashion. Sunny had a slightly satisfied look on his face. "I told you it would be quick."

Hero could almost see the vein pop out of Mari's head. She hated losing. "There are cookies in the kitchen, Mari. Go eat as many as you want. I made too many."

Mari wheeled past Hero and into the kitchen, grumbling something about being bribed with baked goods. Hero thought it was adorable. In the chaos with Aubrey and being away from her at college, he had almost forgotten how much he loved Mari's company. He had really missed her.

Being away from Mari for so long almost made him feel physical pain. He couldn't begin to imagine how Sunny felt. It was painfully obvious to everyone that wasn't Sunny and Aubrey that the poor boy was in love with her, and had been for a long time. Hero realized that in his focus on Kel, he hadn't tried to talk to Sunny about anything. He had been negligent in his duties as older brother.

"Hey, Sunny. You know I'm here if you want to talk about anything, right?" Hero said.

Sunny nodded.

"I'm sorry about Aubrey. I know how you feel about her. My only point of reference is what happened with Mari all those years ago, but at least she could tell me she was alright. I can't imagine how you must be feeling."

Sunny turned away. "She'll be okay. I know it."

Hero sighed and rubbed Sunny's head. "Yeah. You're right. Let's go get some cookies."

* * *

When Aubrey woke up, she didn't know where she was. All she remembered was going to bed on Thursday night and waking up wherever she was now. Then, she heard the steady beeping of a heart monitor and saw an IV drip next to her bed.

She was in a hospital.

"Hello?" she called. "Nurse?"

She needed to know what was going on. Did something happen in her sleep? She felt a sense of unease creep over her. Did her mother do something to her while she was sleeping? She had never been good, but she only got worse after her dad left. Thinking about it, she had never understood why her dad hadn't taken Aubrey with him. She doubted she ever would understand. A part of her didn't want to understand, anyway. As far as she was concerned, if he was willing to leave her, there wasn't much to gain from learning why.

A nurse in blue scrubs rounded the corner into her room. "Did I just hear-" the nurse stopped midsentence when he saw Aubrey. "You're awake!" he said. "I'll go fetch a doctor. Don't move, okay?"

The nurse left, and Aubrey was left confused and alone. Why did it matter that she was awake? Had she been out for a long time?

She didn't worry Sunny, did she?

She hoped whatever happened wasn't that big of a deal. Aubrey didn't want to live with the idea of her home life making Sunny worry about her. Everything was fine. She could take care of herself, and Sunny didn't need to worry.

_"Are you eating well, Aubrey?"_

_"Aubrey, you look sick. Are you okay?"_

_"Aubrey, I can help you with those bags if you want."_

Sunny was weaker than she was. He was frail and quiet and sweet. _She_ should be the one protecting _him_ , not the other way around. Why did he do that?

Aubrey shook her head, shoving her stubborn thoughts out of her head. She was in the hospital. Of course he would worry. It meant the world to her, but she wished that Sunny would think about himself.

"Hello, Aubrey." A woman in a white coat with light blue scrubs rounded the corner. She had a clipboard and a pen in her hands. "Welcome back to the land of the living."


End file.
